Kathleen Donovan

A Superior Court Judge has ordered Bergen County Clerk Kathleen Donovan to redraw the June Republican primary ballot so that the Bergen County Republican Organization candidates -- including Freeholder contenders Robert Yudin, Paul Duggan and Charles Kahwaty -- can run in their own column.

Before Frank Blee lost to Sonny McCullough, who was the last sitting Assemblyman to lose a Special Election for the State Senate?

It was Paul DiGaetano, who lost a March 24, 1987 Special Election for State Senator to Democrat Gabriel Ambrosio. DiGaetano had been elected to the Assembly in 1985, and tried to move up to the Senate after veteran Democratic Senator Joseph Hirkala passed away. Bergen Republicans had swept the 1986 elections four months earlier, winning the County Executive post and all seven Freeholder seats, but DiGaetano (who was also a Passaic City Councilman) was soundly defeated. Still upset over his loss, he declined to run for re-election to the Assembly in 1987. He lost a bid to return in 1989, but won in 1991.

The 1987 Special Election was the first of four times when the Bergen County Republican Organization Men's Club passed over Kathleen Donovan to nominate someone who eventually lost a general election to the Democrats. Donovan wanted to run in the 1987 Special -- she had outpolled DiGaetano in '85 when they ousted six-term incumbent Democrat Richard Visotcky and Robert Hollenbeck -- but the Bergen Boys picked DiGaetano. By the time she ran for the Senate in November, Ambrosio already had incumbency on his side.

Donovan, elected County Clerk in 1988, sough the GOP nomination for Bergen County Executive in 2002 -- but the local powers decided State Senator Henry McNamara would be their candidate. After a lackluster campaign -- and a massive spending frenzy by Bergen Democrats -- McNamara lost to Dennis McNerney by 10,000 votes.

In 2003, Donovan had agreed to run for State Senate against Paul Sarlo, who had won the post in a Special Election Convention after Garry Furnari resigned. But the Bergen Boys -- pushed by DiGaetano and then-Senate Co-President John Bennett -- instead picked John Kelly, a 77-year-old former Assemblyman who had lost to Furnari two years earlier. Sarlo won easily.

Donovan made a second bid for County Executive in 2006, but the BCRO decided to back Todd Caliguire, a former Freeholder. Caliguire narrowly won the primary, and got smashed by McNerney in a campaign picked by PoliticsNJ.com as the worst of the year.

For extreme political junkies: If Donovan had won the State Senate seat in 1987 -- could the three-term Senator from South Bergen have beaten Bob Torricelli for Congress in the 1994 Republican landslide?

There is no peace among Bergen County Republicans: two members of the winning side in a fierce, and often personal, primary battle for the GOP nomination for County Executive, will face off on Tuesday night in a contest for County Chairman. The incumbent, former Assemblyman Guy Talarico, under attack for his losing record in recent elections and for his often autocratic style, will face Bill Thomson, a one-time supporter and former Chairman of the New Jersey Christian Coalition. A third candidate, lobbyist Alan Marcus, dropped out of the race after his candidate for County Executive, Kathleen Donovan, lost the primary to Todd Caliguire, a former Freeholder and aide to Governor Thomas Kean, who had the backing of Talarico and Thomson. Lauren Thomson, the candidate's wife, won the GOP nomination for Freeholder in the June primary, defeating incumbent Elizabeth Randall on Talarico's line.

DONOVAN CALLS FOR RESTRUCTURING OF XANADU AGREEMENTS; SAYS SPORTS AUTHORITY SHOULDN'T
BE A TAX HAVEN FOR PRIVATE DEVELOPERS

For immediate release: May 25, 2006
contact: Alan C. Marcus/201-902-9000

Any sale or restructuring of Xanadu's ownership should trigger a complete restructuring of the project's fiscal obligations to the host community and region, according to Republican County Executive candidate Kathleen Donovan.

CALIGUIRE CALLS ON DONOVAN TO FIRE HER CAMPAIGN MANAGER AND DISAVOW ENDORSEMENT OF RENEGADE BOGOTA COUNCILMAN

Donovan Team Proposes Returning Zoning Authority to Local Officials Through Constitutional Amendment

For immediate release: May 24, 06
contact: Alan C. Marcus/201-902-9000

Judicial overreaching on land use issues threatens the quality of life throughout Bergen County and must be reigned in, according to Kathleen Donovan the Republican candidate for County Executive and her runningmates. The candidates said that the only relief may come by overturning the various Mt. Laurel decisions by constitutional amendment.

DONOVAN WILL JOIN WITH LOCAL OFFICIALS TO BLOCK ADDITIONAL FLIGHTS OVER BERGEN COUNTY

For Immediate Release: May 18, 2006
Contact: Alan C. Marcus 201-902-9000

Kathleen Donovan, Republican candidate for County Executive, has told the Federal Aviation Administration that she will work with local officials "to develop legal and other strategies to block any regulation proposed by the FAA which threatens the health and safety of local residents."

Donovan Calls for Limits on Public Use of Eminent Domain

For Immediate Release: May, 15 2006

Contact Alan Marcus 201-902-9000

The taking of private property for so-called public purposes should be controlled by new state law designed to strictly limit the practice, according to Kathleen Donovan and her running mates in the June Republican primary.

The Donovan ticket has attacked Chairman Talarico because his brother served as a part time Legislative Aide earning less than $5000 in the five years that Talarico served in the Assembly. She has claimed that the Chairman has abused the taxpayers paid pension plan. The Chairman's brother, George Talarico is one of the nations leading
attorneys in environmental litigation. He assisted the Former Assemblyman and BCRO Chairman on numerous bills and legislative matters. The Chairman's brother is not eligible to earn anything from the pension plan, nor is he vested.

Kathleen Donovan on the other hand is vested in the NJ PERS Pension plan and could earn nearly $2 million in pension benefits. In fact she is a willing and active participant in the very abuses she has criticized. In her 25 years of public life, 8 of them were in part time positions, including as Part Time Public Defender, Part Time Staff Attorney in Bergen County Office on Aging and as a Legislator in District 36.

For immediate release:

contact: Alan C. Marcus/201-902-9000

Donovan Challenges Opponents to Repudiate Payroll Abuses Championed by Talarico

Bergen County and New Jersey can no longer afford part time political appointees receiving full time benefits, according to Kathleen Donovan candidate for Bergen County Executive. She said that she and her running mates "will lead by example and institute a series of significant reforms to curb pension and benefit abuses while protecting hard working public employees who provide meaningful services that benefit residents and taxpayers."