Dennis McNerney

Dennis McNerney has won four consecutive races in New Jersey's largest county, but he's not being considered at all for Lt. Governor.

Dennis McNerney won 61% of the vote when he was re-elected to a second term in New Jersey's largest counties, but Democratic insiders say there is no real consideration of the Bergen County Executive as a possible running mate for Gov. Jon Corzine.  Some Democrats say his close ties to former Democratic County Chairman Joseph Ferriero ends his viability as a statewide candidate.  But there are a few Democrats who suggest that McNerney, who has won four consecutive countywide elections, lacks the gravitas to run for Lt. Governor.

Bergen County made up 11% of the total votes cast in the 2005 gubernatorial election, and the county is considered a must-win for a Republican candidate.  No Republican has ever won a statewide election in New Jersey without carrying Bergen County, and it is difficult to come up with math that shows a GOP win without it.

Gov. Jon Corzine, above, has reappointed three members of the New Jersey State Investment Council.

Gov. Jon Corzine has again nominated Jeanne Fox as President of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.  Fox had been reappointed last year, but the nomination stalled after then-Senate Judiciary Chairman John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) declined to post it for a committee vote.  Sources say that the new Judiciary Chairman, Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge) will back Fox for another term at the BPU.

Jose Claxton, Montgomery Cerf, and Erika Irish Brown have been reappointed by Corzine to the New Jersey State Investment Council, which has lost an estimated $25 billion of state pension funds since July.

Corzine has also resubmitted the nomination of Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney to the Local Unit Alignment, Reorganization and Consolidation Commission.  State Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Demarest) has been blocking McNerney's appointment.

The ten-year reign of Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero came to a close tonight, ending an era that saw a Democrats transform from a perpetually minority party to one that completely dominated politics in New Jersey's largest county.  Ferriero, 51, a onetime political prodigy who won a Dumont Borough Council seat when he was just 20-years-old, has resigned to fight a federal corruption indictment.  A conviction will mean a permanent end to his political career; an acquittal could - and likely would - mean a return to his position as one of the state's most powerful politicians.

When Ferriero, wrestled the county chairmanship from Gerald Calabrese in June 1998, Bergen County Republicans had a 7-0 majority on the Board of Freeholders, and Republicans in the offices of County Executive, County Clerk, and Sheriff.  The only countywide Democratic official was Michael Dressler, who had won election as Surrogate in 1996.  Republicans held three of the five State Senate seats, and eight of ten State Assembly seats that included parts of Bergen County.

Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney will sponsor a briefing tomorrow  for local businesses on how to obtain government grants, the same day Democrats are meeting to replace Joseph Ferriero as County Chairman.  Ferriero, who has been the chief patron of McNerney’s rise up the political ladder, was indicted in September on charges that he concealed his ownership of a grants consulting company that received business from Bergen County municipalities. 

U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-Fairlawn) wants state Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge) to serve as Bergen County Democratic Organization interim chairman.

HACKENSACK – The Bergen reformer’s fear is someone disgraced or incarcerated will be running the party, giving orders via cellphone or BlackBerry to drones working in the service of a political patronage system that grinds forward unchanged even as the feds expose and prosecute the upper eschelons. 

But it’s also an election year – for governor, no less – and in that all important, 70-community county of Bergen, which Democrats or Republicans must win in order win it all in 2009 – tampering with the Democratic Party infrastructure and leaving it depleted or less than muscular could give the GOP that one opportunity they’re seeking. 

Indeed, even as Joe Ferriero wrote his letter of resignation as chairman of the Bergen County Democratic Organization (BCDO), former U.S. Attroney Chris Christie – the man whose office last year indicted Ferriero on federal corruption charges – filed his papers to run for governor against Democrat Jon Corzine, setting up that most dramatic contrast of party plot lines, which the GOP wants to translate into crumbling utterly the Dems’ most vulnerable fault line here in Bergen.

Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero has been on a leave of absence since September.

Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero, under indictment on federal corruption charges, will resign on January 22, and has called a special election to pick a successor.  Ferriero says he is ending his leave of absence effective immediately so that he can help raise money for the party’s January 17 fundraising event.

Ferriero was indicted on September 9 on eight corruption counts of influence peddling with a grants consulting firm he held a financial stake in. A trial is set for September 2009.  He went on a leave of absence just before the indictment was announced.

“Unfortunately, I have recently been required to defend myself against an indictment which has no basis in law or fact.  I have been forced to dedicate my time and energy to clearing my name,” Ferriero wrote in a letter to Democratic leaders.  “I believe that it would adversely affect our party, and our candidates if I were to continue to serve as chairman while on trial several weeks before the November election.  It is for this reason that I am calling a special county committee meeting for January 22, 2009 to elect a successor.  I hereby resign effective on that date.”

Ferriero says that while he had “strenuous disagreements with a few members of the party including (State Sen.) Loretta Weinberg and (U.S. Rep.) Steve Rothman,” he said “we are all Democrats that want what is in the best interest of the party.”

“I am calling on everyone to come together so that we can continue the progress our party has made over the last decade,” he said.

Likely candidates to succeed him are Michael Kasparian, a developer and Democratic fundraiser, and Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union business manager Richard “Buzz” Dressel, a Commissioner of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority.

Ferriero, 51, was first elected County Chairman in June 1998.  Five months later, Bergen Democrats broke the GOP’s 7-0 majority on the Board of Freeholders by electing Democrats Dennis McNerney and Douglas Bern, and won the race for Sheriff.  Under Ferriero’s leadership, Bergen County now has two Democratic State Senators, McNerney is in his second term as County Executive, and they hold all seven Freeholder seats.  Ferriero has helped Democrats achieve majorities in 25 municipalities.

For now, Ferriero’s resignation ends a 31-year political career that began with his election to the Dumont Borough Council in 1977 at age twenty.

The full text of Ferriero’s letter:

Union leader Buzz Dressel is expected to run for Bergen County Democratic Chairman if Joe Ferriero is ousted.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 164 endorsed Republican Henry McNamara for Bergen County Executive in 2002 at the request of Democratic powerhouse John Lynch, according to Richard "Buzz" Dressel, the business manager for the local.  Lynch, a former Senate President, is now serving a 39 month sentence after pleading guilty to federal corruption charges.

If there is contest to replace indicted Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero, Dressel is expected to face off against Michael Kasparian, a real estate developer and Democratic fundraiser with ties to Ferriero.  Dressel says the IBEW's endorsements of McNamara and GOP County Clerk Kathleen Donovan won't hamper his ability to replace Ferriero.  He says the union was backing McNamara because he was stronger in his opposition to the Xanadu project than the eventual winner, Democrat Dennis McNerney.  And he says even Ferriero tried to get Donovan to seek re-election last year as a Democrat.

State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge), who met with Kasparian today, says Dressel shouldn't be penalized for a couple of union endorsements.

"That was his union, it wasn't specifically Buzzy," said Sarlo.   "Look, if the county committee picks him he would have to guarantee that all endorsements out of that union hall are Democratic."

At 3,500 members, Dressel's local is the largest electrical construction workers union in the state.

"That's the largest union in Bergen County, and the fact that he's the president could turn into a big positive for him," said Sarlo.

Dressel's union, whose campaign contributions included one to GOP gubernatorial candidate Bret Schundler in 2001, will endorse only Democrats from now on.  "Without a doubt," he told PolitickerNJ.com.

"We need to bring credibility back to the Bergen County Democratic Party," added Dressel, a Commissioner of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. "This is not the Democratic Party my grandfather was a part of. We're supposed to be connecting people to the process, and that's what I want to do. I want to bring the party back together. I'd actually be calling for meetings and a transparent process. Meanwhile, there's somebody running against me who is unequivocally Joe Ferriero's clone."

On his way in to meet with Paramus developer and Democratic Party fundraiser Kasparian today, State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) dismissed the rumor of a conflict and said Dressell shouldn't be penalized for backing a Republican or two.

The feud between Republican State Senator Gerald Cardinale and Democratic Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney continues.   Today, McNerney wrote a Letter to the Editor published in The Record that slams the nine-term Senator for his opposition to regionalization of local government.  “If ignorance of constituents’ concerns paid dividends,” McNerney wrote, then Cardinale “would be a billionaire.”

Cardinale is using senatorial courtesy to block McNerney’s appointment to the Local Unit Alignment, Reorganization and Consolidation Commission.  Governor Jon Corzine has named McNerney to the panel twice, but Cardinale refuses to allow his confirmation.  According to The Record’s Charles Stile, Cardinale thinks McNerney will “simply rubber stamp… recommendations to merge smaller towns with larger ones.”  McNerney wants to merge as many as 35 Bergen municipalities that have less than 10,000 residents.

The shakeup of the Bergen County Democratic Organization has already led to speculation about who will run for county executive in 2010. 

Many insiders believe that if indicted Democratic Chairman Joe Ferriero goes --  as the party’s executive committee has called on him to do by January 15 barring total exoneration - then incumbent executive Dennis McNerney is on his way out too.

But McNerney, who’s held the seat since 2002, told PolitickerNJ this week that he definitely intends to seek a third term. 

“I’m definitely running.  There’s never been a doubt,” he said.  “I love what I do. That’s capital L.O.V.E.  It’s a great county and I love serving the people of Bergen County.” 

U.S. Marshal James Plousis, a Republican, is expected to lose his job when Barack Obama becomes President

One campaign certain to get underway soon is the race for U.S. Marshal, a post that will flip from Republican to Democrat next year.  James Plousis, a former Cape May County Sheriff who was named U.S. Marshal by George W. Bush in 2002, is expected to follow tradition and offer his resignation effective with the start of Barack Obama's presidency on January 20, 2009.  Plousis' predecessor was Glen Cunningham, who was a former Jersey City Police Officer and City Councilman before Bill Clinton named him in 1996.  New Jersey's two United States Senators, Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez, will effectively pick the next federal marshal.

One Democratic leader close to the senior U.S. Senator suggests that Lautenberg's choice could be Mitchell Sklar, his former Legislative Assistant who is now the Executive Director of the New Jersey Association of Chiefs of Police.  Lautenberg is also backing Paul Fishman, a former Justice Department official in the Clinton administration, for U.S. Attorney.  Menendez has not reportedly not yet focused on this particular position.

Cunningam was the only African American to serve as New Jersey's U.S. Marshal.  All his predecessors where white men.

While the shot list has not yet developed, expect several names to come off quickly: Democratic insiders say it won't be Atantic County Sheriff James McGettigan, who lost his bid for re-election to a sixth term last week and needs a job.  And it is not likely to be Bergen County Sheriff Leo McGuire, whose ties to indicted Democratic County Chairman Joseph Ferriero won't help his chances (and besides, he wants to run for County Executive in 2010 when Democrats dump Dennis McNerney).