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?"

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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.

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Since taking over one of the most powerful county political parties in the state just ten weeks ago, Bergen County Democratic Chairman Michael Kasparian has brought a leadership style to the job that's drastically different from his predecessor, Joe Ferriero.

"I think in general in politics, the catalyst for conflicts is people or factions feelings alienated," said Kasparian, who served on Barack Obama's National Finance Committee and said that Obama's "no drama" slogan resonated with him.  "If you don't have the ability to sit down with someone and listen to a contrarian view without getting emotional and excited to the extent you can't be constructive, then you don't deserve a seat at the table. That's the kind of discipline I want our party to implement."

Ferriero, who supported Kasparian to take over the party several months after his indictment for alleged corruption, was flamboyant, high profile and autocratic.  Kasparian is quiet, plodding and open to compromise, according to members of both sides of a major party schism.

"It's a very different party today than it was a year ago. It's not focused on any individual.  It's focused on the party itself," said Democratic Freeholder David Ganz, who was loyal to Ferriero and supported Kasparian's ascendancy to the post.

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HACKENSACK – It was a day of promise nearly two years ago that turned dismal fast, and in retrospect could be read as just one more stage in the unraveling of a party machine, whose new-look leader is now attempting to reverse months of bad news. 

On Thursday night, the Bergen County Democratic Organization (BCDO) overwhelmingly endorsed Jon Corzine for another term as governor, thereby kicking into motion the organization’s own official low-drama contribution to Corzine’s inaugural reelection effort. 

The governor appeared at the party's convention, and spoke in gratitude.

Bergen's unified front comes 23 months after Corzine attempted to make whole an organization at the brink of what was then yet another battle between state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) and BCDO Chairman Joseph Ferriero.   

On April 12, 2007, the governor arrived at BCDO headquarters, and like a benevolent chief summoned to witness the repairing of two nations, sat between Weinberg and Ferriero as the Bergen boss swore the war was over and promised not to run his ally, Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes, against the independent senator.

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Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes may be stepping down after his term expires, but he is still expected to play a major role in the upcoming election.

"I would be shocked if there was not a Democratic primary. I would not object to that," said Councilman Scott Reddin, an adversary of Wildes who so far is the only declared candidate for mayor.

Politics in this ethnically diverse and heavily Democratic city of 26,000 have been driven over the last six years by the rivalry between the headline-generating Wildes, a fundraising powerhouse who has been candid that he aspires to higher office and who has been a key ally of former county Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero, and his adversaries, who hold a 4-1 majority on the council.

For his mayoral bid, Reddin has the support of fellow council members Charlotte Bennett Schoen, Ken Rosenzweig and Gordon Johnson, who is also a state assemblyman (Johnson ran in 2006 to take out Wildes-backed incumbent Vernon Walton, and will not seek reelection this year).  The other councilman, Jack Drakeford, is aligned with Wildes.

Reddin said that, if elected, he would govern with a much more low-key style than Wildes. Read More >

Teaneck Councilman Adam Gussen, a critic of the Democratic splinter group headed up by state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck), plans to seek an Assembly seat against Weinberg's allies in the District 37 Democrats' convention next month.

"I believe by and large the problems in New Jersey today are the result of the collective product of our legislators, and we cannot fix the problems with the people and the thinking that caused the problems," said Gussen in a phone interview with PolitickerNJ.com.

Gussen said that he has filed to take on incumbents Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Fair Lawn) and Gordon Johnson (D-Englewood).

The convention, where county committee members from the eleven towns that comprise the legislative district will choose who will get the party line in the June primary, is planned for Wednesday, March 11th.

Gussen said that he will not run in the primary if he does not win, and that he's signed an affidavit to that effect.  Johnson and Huttle both said they refused to sign the affidavit when it was presented to them, since at the time they were not convinced the convention would be fair.

Gussen called Johnson a hypocrite for using "rhetoric about reform, transparency and open government, and yet you have someone representing the district who is a triple dipper, a dual office-holder and has financially supported Lyndon LaRouche."

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Ridgefield Councilman Nicholas Lonzisero has filed a letter of intent with the Bergen County Republican Organization to run for assembly in Legislative District 38, according to the party's chairman, Bob Yudin.

So far, no other Republicans have come forward to run in the Democratic-leaning district, which some members of the party think maybe, just maybe could be put in play in light of the state's economic woes and the pending federal corruption trials of former State Sen. Joseph Coniglio (D-Paramus) and ex-Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero.

"We're actively recruiting now," said Yudin.

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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.

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Bergen County Democrats are voting now on a successor to County Chairman Joseph Ferriero.  Expect Michael Kasparian to win in a landslide, since Richard “Buzz” Dressel appears to have dropped out again.  Rival faction Democrats seems to be staying away from the special convention.

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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. 

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