Dennis Oury

Bergen County Republican Chairman Bob Yudin said Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie deserves credit for the guilty plea of Dennis Oury, the former Bergen County Democratic counsel and municipal attorney for several of the county’s towns.

Christie indicted Oury and Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe Ferriero last year, when he was still U.S. Attorney.

“Chris Christie is still batting 1,000.  He hasn’t lost a case yet.  As far as Ferriero’s concerned, that’s up to the jury,” said Yudin.

Bergen County is a major battleground this year, and Christie dealt the Democratic Party there a serious blow when he indicted Oury and Ferriero.  Ferriero, chairman since 1998, was a prolific fundraiser who took the Democrats from being a perennial minority party to controlling all but one county-wide office.

There is no word yet on how Dennis Oury's guilty plea this morning will affect the federal corruption trial of former Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero, which is set to begin on Thursday.  Oury, the former counsel to the Bergen County Democratic Organization, is Ferriero's co-defendant.  The two face conspiracy and mail fraud charges connected to their ownership of a grant-writing company. 

The federal corruption trial of former Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero, above, is scheduled to begin on Thursday.

Former Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe Ferriero has no plans to follow his co-defendant’s lead and plead guilty to corruption charges, according to his attorney, Joseph Hayden.

“Joe Ferriero asked for a speedy trial and wants to go forward,” said Hayden.

Hayden would not say whether the Oury indictment would change anything about the way he will proceed in defending Ferriero.

“I decline to speculate as to how it will affect the dynamics of the trial, and I’ll probably address it in my opening statement,” he said.

Ferriero’s trial is set to begin on Thursday.  He is charged with concealing an interest in a grant writing firm and using his political clout to steer government grants to the firm’s clients.   

Just two days before opening arguments were set to begin in his case, former Bergen County Democratic counsel Dennis Oury pleaded guilty this morning to federal corruption charges, The Record reports.

Oury was charged along with former Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero with allegedly concealing ownership of a grant writing business that did business with Bergenfield – one of the several municipalities that had Oury on the payroll as attorney.  They allegedly used their political clout to steer $1.4 million in grants to the town, then collected fees from their company.

The trial for Oury and Ferriero was slated to start on Thursday.  A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office had no comment when asked if Oury would testify against Ferriero.

Jury selection in the federal corruption trial of former Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero and onetime BCDO counsel Dennis Oury is expected to begin today.  The trial is scheduled to start on October 1 - a month before the general election - and some insiders say it will have an impact on the fall Democratic campaign.  Ferriero and Oury are accused of making money off a grant writing company that marketed services to local governments where the two top Democrats wielded considerable influence. 

A new indictment was filed on Tuesday against Dennis Oury, the former counsel to the Bergen County Democratic Organization, alleging that he failed to pay a portion of his federal income taxes over the last three years.  Oury is set to go on trial this fall on charges that he and Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero formed a private grants company that received a contract with Bergenfield, where he was the Township Attorney.  The new charges accuse Oury of not reporting his $25,000 annual income or file tax returns.

Nicholas Lonzisero and Judith Fisher, the Republican candidates for State Assembly in the 38th district.

Bergen County Republican Chairman Bob Yudin said today that the corruption allegation against Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez helps put the 38th Legislative District in play.

"It is in play because of the rampant Democratic corruption, first with Senator (Joseph) Coniglio and now with Mayor Suarez," said Yudin.

The 38th is considered a relatively safe Democratic district, although Republicans have indicated that they're keeping an eye on it this year.  Even after Coniglio (D-Paramus) had to drop his candidacy for re-election to a third term after receiving a target letter from the U.S. Attorney's office in 2007, the Democratic slate, led by Robert Gordon (D-Fair Lawn) as Coniglio's replacement, won easily.

But Yudin thinks the corruption issue may have reached critical mass there.  Republican candidate Nick Lonzisero is council president in Suarez's town, and, if Suarez resigns, he will become interim mayor.  

In April, Coniglio was convicted of steering state funds to Hackensack University Medical Center, which employed him as a consultant.  Former Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero and ex-BCDO counsel Dennis Oury are set to have corruption trials that parallel the general election.  Yudin thinks all that, combined having former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie - who got the ball rolling on the investigations that ensnared the Democrats - at the top of the ticket, will make corruption a winning issue.

Yudin's focus on corruption - or the "corruption tax" that he ran last year's unsuccessful freeholder campaigns on - has drawn criticism from some Bergen Republicans in the past.

Former Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero’s defense attorney filed a motion in federal court today to dismiss the indictment against him.  

Joseph Hayden, who represents Ferriero, said that they’re seeking to dismiss the case based on an “unprecedented expansion of the mail fraud statute.”

Ferriero was indicted in September along with Dennis Oury, the former counsel of the Bergen County Democratic Organization, on eight corruption counts, seven of which were for mail fraud.  He allegedly used his position to steer business to a grants writing firm he and Oury held a stake in, along with Leonard Kaiser, a third partner who was not indicted.  

No hearing date has been set.

Two Bergenfield Councilmen tossed off the organization line by Democratic Municipal Chairman Kevin Clancy easily won the Democratic primary.  With the help of State Sen. Loretta Weinberg, Thomas Lodato and Robert Gillman held their seats against Clancy's candidates, Fedra Lolos and Fernando Vargas.  Clancy was a close ally of former Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero.

This is one of the reasons people think some politicians are tone deaf.  The Bergen County Utility Authority voted unanimously to give a no-bid consulting contract to Leonard Kaiser, who resigned as BCUA Executive Director last year after FBI agents searched his home.  Kaiser was a partner in a government grants business that led to the indictments of former Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero and BCDO attorney Dennis Oury. 

Asked about the contract by The Record, BCUA Commissioner (and East Rutherford Mayor) James Cassella said: "Len has a lot of knowledge.  In fairness to Len, why not give him a little stipend?"