Corruption issue proves toothless in Bergen

With two prominent Democratic leaders indicted, a subpoena dropped on the clerk of the Democratic controlled freeholder board shortly before the election, and running against three incumbents who all had been voted out of municipal offices in their hometowns over the last couple years, Bergen County Republicans still could not pick up a single freeholder seat.

“Those guys did an outstanding job, to be honest. We were in this thing right until the end. So from that perspective, I thought it was a huge improvement – especially over four years ago,” said Republican consultant Thom Ammirato, who ran the campaign.

It’s not as if the Republicans had everything working for them. Ammirato argued that, despite the corruption issue, Democrats had a myriad of advantages, most of all having Barack Obama at the top of the ticket, not to mention the power of incumbency. Presidential years in Bergen County are generally the strongest ones for Democrats. It’s the off years that Republicans tend to come closer.

And once again, barring a candidate actually being indicted himself, the specter of corruption has shown itself to be relatively toothless in New Jersey elections.

“It helped energize our base who already had the opinion that the Democrats were corrupt,” said Ammirato. “ Obviously in a race like this, the issue is the economy. We tried to stress the county financial issue as best we can. The corruption issue is one we have to examine to see if it holds sway with voters. But any time you have a federal investigation of the other side, it certainly doesn’t hurt.”

Ammirato did see several reasons to be optimistic afterwards, however. The Republicans were likely outspent by the Democrats, but they kept pace with fundraising. That’s not bad, he said, considering that the already-fractured party was further torn apart by a leadership battle at the beginning of the summer.

“It’s a little early, but it’s starting to sink in. Obviously there’s great disappointment. We really thought we had all the right components in place to take a seat or two this year,” he said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but when you considered where this party came from at the end of June, beginning of July, and to put together the type of campaign we did against some entrenched incumbents who had every advantage at the top of the ticket you could possibly want, it’s an incredibly positive sign.”

And the Republicans did keep County Clerk Kathe Donovan in a seat that Democrats have been trying to pry away for years.

Bill Maer, a spokesman for the Democrats, said that the election was nothing more than a referendum on county government.

“This was an election about voter confidence in Bergen County government, and it showed that the voters were comfortable with Democratic control of the freeholder board and most of the apparatuses of the county,” he said.

Republican County Chairman Bob Yudin, however, said he was encouraged by the results, which he said would have been a win for the Republicans any other year.

“What happened was we were swimming against a riptide: the presidential election. Senator McCain lost by 32,000 votes. When the top of the ticket is losing by that kind of massive vote, it effects downticket," he said.

Yudin said that the Republicans took out twice as many Democrats in municipal races as vice-versa, and U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett increased his margin of victory in Bergen County.

Next year, with a potentially competitive gubernatorial race heading up the ticket, Yudin said things could change.

“With our gubernatorial candidate doing well as I believe he or she will do in the election next year, we’re going to start winning county elections.”

The Breakdown, according to the unofficial tally from the Division of Elections:

Full term

Bernadette McPherson (D)* 168,195

David Ganz (D)* 163,156

Chris Calabrese (R) 155,741

Jeff Heller (R) 151,307

Unexpired term

Vernon Walton (D)* 164,034

Paul Duggan (R) 153,804

*Incumbent