Joe Ferriero

State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) and Assemblyman Gordon Johnson (D-Englewood) with Yaakov Friedman today in Bergenfield.

BERGENFIELD - Mayor Timothy J. Driscoll took another sip of his coffee and considered the political terrain.

With the battles he's weathered at the local level here the fact that the gubernatorial campaigns are storming through his town now comes with no particular irony. It's just a natural outgrowth of personalities that have been converging in Bergenfield for years, some of whom are now trying to connect with the 13,387 registered voters in this compact town, while others - pending appeal - appear headed for the federal pen.

How does it all play into the statewide race with seven days remaining?

"I don't think much at all," said the retired engineer, sitting in his second floor mayor's office in town hall. "It's all about the economy. The economy is the problem."

Days after a jury found former Bergen County Democratic Organization Chairman Joe Ferriero guilty of defrauding Bergenfield of the honest legal services of former attorney Dennis Oury (who had already pleaded guilty to fraud), the two candidates for lieutenant governor scrambled into the same senior daycare facility on the main drag, local state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck), running mate of Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine, first; followed by Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno, the Republican running mate of former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie. 

PARSIPPANY, NJ - Today, Democratic Garfield Councilwoman Tana Raymond released the following statement regarding Jon Corzine's attempts to distance himself from Joe Ferriero:

PARSIPPANY, NJ - Today, Sheriff Kim Guadagno released the following statement regarding Jon Corzine's attempts to distance himself from Joe Ferriero:

 "During last night's debate, Jon Corzine made a half-hearted attempt at disassociating himself from Joe Ferriero's political machine in Bergen County.  Try as he might, Jon Corzine can't hide the fact that he and his family gave $441,600 to Joe Ferriero and his Bergen County Democratic Organization.  Not only did he fuel the activities of a corrupt organization, Governor Corzine failed to take a tough stance when Ferriero was indicted, instead allowing and promoting him as a delegate to the Democratic Convention. For Jon Corzine to imply that his considerable and consistent contributions to Ferriero's political operation were simply to elect federal candidates is laughable and isn't fooling anyone."

Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie struck a familiar tone today, trumpeting the conviction of a political figure indicted when he was U.S. Attorney – in this case former Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe Ferriero. 

But the big difference between today’s press conference phone call and the seven years of pressers Christie held as the state’s top federal prosecutor was that he laid part of the blame for the state’s corrupt political culture on Gov. Jon Corzine.

Christie said Corzine "enabled" Ferriero  ecause Corzine gave Bergen County Democrats over $400,000 when Ferriero led the party.

“The Governor bears some degree of responsibility for this as well because, sadly, he gave over $400,000 of his own personal money to enable this felon to lead the Bergen County Democratic Organization— in fact to lord over the Bergen county political scene for  much of the last decade.”

State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) was one of Joe Ferriero’s biggest critics when he led the party that dominated state’s biggest county.  That boosted the reformist credentials that ultimately winning her the spot as Gov. Jon Corzine’s candidate for lieutenant governor.  

But Ferriero’s conviction on three corruption counts could give a boost to Corzine’s Republican opponent, former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, whose indictment of the Bergen boss was the last in a storied seven year career of taking down corrupt public officials.  

“I am saddened that this took place in the county in which I live and work and represent, and I am heartened that it is all part of our past and not our present and future,” Weinberg said without a hint of schadenfreude.  “I didn’t need any vindication on anything.  I was vindicated – and that’s your word, not mine – when the voters elected me.”  

When asked if she thought the verdict would strengthen Christie’s position in the race, Weinberg said “I think Chris Christie has enough issues to explain about his own behavior.”

‘He’s the one who somehow forgot to file income on his income taxes and on his disclosure forms and somehow managed to always over-spend the government guidelines that he was given for travel,” said Weinberg, referring to interest from Christie’s $46,000 loan to former First Assistant U.S. Attorney Michele Brown and his stays at posh hotels during business travel.  

Former Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe Ferriero was just convicted on three of eight corruption counts against him, but Freeholder James Carroll still believes he’s innocent.

“I’m not a lawyer. I don’t really know the legal ends of it.  I don’t see – he was not an elected official.  I just don’t know.  I’m at a loss for words,” said Carroll, a labor leader who has been a freeholder since 2003 and is also the mayor of Demarest.  

“I’m sure he never had any intentions to do anything illegal. I just don’t believe that was his style.  He lived politics,” said Carroll.  “I didn’t deal with him in a business sense. I dealt with him in a political sense, and he was a good politician.”

Bergen County Republican Chairman Bob Yudin said he will not gloat about the three count corruption conviction of his former Democratic counterpart, Joe Ferriero.

“This is a sad day, and in no way am I happy about this because it shows that I was right since I started running for freeholder that everything was for sale in Bergen County to the highest bidder,” said Yudin, who ran for freeholder three times and faced some criticism for focusing too much on corruption as a campaign issue.

Ferriero, who took over the Democratic Party in 1998, transformed it from perennial minority status to the county's dominant party.  By the time of his indictment last year, Republicans were left holding only one county-wide office.  

Now, Republicans think they have a good shot at picking up two freeholder seats. 

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.

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.   

GOP LG candidate Kim Guadagno (center) attends the Indian Independence Day march in Edison on Sunday.

Seeking to portray their opponent as a hapless enabler of corruption who threw a lot of money into the accounts of officials now either fighting in federal courtrooms or headed for a jail cell, Team Christie today issued a release branding Gov. Jon Corzine as the "number one financer of corrupt politicians and county bosses in New Jersey."

Going back to 1998 and Corzine's initial foray into state politics, the Christie campaign in their latest blast targets their rapid-ascent political rival's and his family's donations totaling $441,600 to former state Sen. Joseph Coniglio (D-Paramus) and former Bergen County Democratic Organization (BCDO) Chairman Joe Ferriero.

A federal court earlier this year found Coniglio guilty of corruption. He's now awaiting sentencing.

Ferriero faces his own corruption trial this fall.  

While he could have used his vast personal fortune to stand outside and aggressively reform the system, Wall Street banker turned U.S. Senator and later governor instead cocooned himself into it, said Christie's running mate, Sheriff Kim Guadagno.