Michael Kasparian

Some Democrats think Joseph Ferriero's criminal conviction puts Bergen County Executive Dennis C. McNerney in danger of losing party support if he seeks re-election to a third term next year.  A Ferriero protégé, McNerney was handpicked by the powerful party leader to run in 2002 - now Democrats, protective of their control over county government, might gently nudge McNerney to retire.

Democrats will be more likely to dump McNerney if they lose Freeholder seats next month, and almost certain to replace him if Republicans win the race for governor.  But even a victory by Gov. Jon Corzine could push McNerney out; then State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck), a Ferriero foe, would be Lt. Governor, and her clout among local Democrats would surely increase.  Look for Corzine and Weinberg to play a role in picking a new Democratic County Chairman after Michael Kasparian, who was picked by Ferriero as his replacement last year, steps down next June.

The Corzine campaign expects "that the margin will be tight" in the race for Bergen County Freeholder, and predicts that incumbent legislators from both parties will win re-election, according to a briefing memo prepared by the governor's re-election campaign. 

The Corzine campaign views District 36 as "reliably Democratic" and notes that the Republicans have targeted Assemblymen Gary Schaer (D-Passaic) and Frederick Scalera (D-Nutley) because "they think it will be more competitive without the popular Senator (Paul) Sarlo at the top of the ticket. 

"We do not expect the seats to change hands," the memo said.

The Democrats acknowledged the local 37th district split between State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck), their candidate for Lt. Governor, and the Bergen County Democratic Organization, but said that Weinberg and Michael Kasparian, who became the County Chairman following Joseph Ferriero's indictment, "have been able to establish more harmony."

In District 38, "there was concern that the ticket would be held down by residual issues with former Senator Joe Coniglio's conviction on corruption charges," the memo said.  But "recent polling has been extremely positive, and we expect that both Assemblywomen will retain their seats."

In a blunt analysis, the Corzine campaign conceded that they will not win Republican Assembly seats in the 39th and 40th districts.  "Unfortunately, we expect the Republicans to win reelection this November," the memo said about District 39, and in District 40 said "we do not think they will be able to unseat the Republicans this fall."

HACKENSACK – Chairman Michael Kasparian as well as Freeholders Julie O’Brien and Vernon Walton expressed their excitement after this afternoon’s announcement by the White House that President Barack Obama would be returning to New Jersey next week to campaign for Governor Jon Corzine and the Bergen County Democratic slate.

If the federal corruption trial of Joseph Ferriero ends in an acquittal, many party leaders expect that he will run again for Bergen County Democratic Chairman next June, or earlier.  Ferriero was forced to resign that post following his 2008 indictment.  That could cause quite a civil war just as Democrats are gearing up for the re-election of County Executive Dennis C. McNerney.

The conventional wisdom is that Ferriero's successor, Michael Kasparian, has no plans to seek re-election.  The job is not what he imagined it would be, he has struggled to raise money, and sources say his interest in staying on is limited at best. 

While Ferriero had a lock on the County Committee before his indictment (he won his last race with 80% of the vote), Democratic sources say he would face a real fight to return.  His chances could be reduced is his rival, State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck), is elected Lt. Governor.  Weinberg would almost certainly push Jon Corzine to intervene, as she did when she ran for Byron Baer's open State Senate seat against Ken Zisa, Ferriero's choice.

The Bergen County Republican and Democratic chairmen both have a lot riding on the November 3rd election.

Not only is Bergen - the most populous of the state's 21 counties - expected to be hotly contested between Democratic Governor Jon Corzine and Republican gubernatorial nominee Christopher Christie, but that race will likely have down-ballot implications that could change the course of the county's politics, put control of its government at stake in 2010 and shape the reputations of its two relatively new party chairs. 

The political fortunes of both men - and both parties -- are pegged to the gubernatorial race. 

For GOP chairman Robert Yudin, having Christie at the top of the ticket opposing an unpopular Democratic governor gives his minority party its best shot at picking up a freeholder seat since Lisa Randall won one in 2003.  It's a county that Christie's campaign has paid a lot of attention to, aware that they are not exempt from the New Jersey political wisdom that Republicans cannot win statewide without it.  The flip side for Yudin is that, if Christie wins Bergen but neither of the freeholder candidates win, he will get the blame for a missed opportunity and potentially suffer the consequences when his first term is up in June, 2010. 

Democratic Chairman Michael Kasparian, a developer, has an entirely different but equally difficult situation.  Last winter he took over control of a party that holds all but one county-wide office.  But it has seen its share of problems since the indictment of its powerful former chairman, Joe Ferriero, on corruption charges that he will have to fight in court in October - the peak of the campaign season.  Fundraising - Ferriero's specialty - is more difficult with the economy in shambles, and the party's debt picture is not yet clear, since Kasparian has not yet released an audit he commissioned.  If Republicans pull off a victory, Kasparian risks being saddled with the blame for the party's decline. 

If Republicans win even one seat on the freeholder board this year, they'll have a shot at control next year, when three Democratic freeholders, Sheriff Leo McGuire and County Executive Dennis McNerney are up for reelection.  If Christie is in office, Yudin said, Bergen Republicans will feel a sense of momentum. 

"New Jersey is considered a blue state. Bergen is considered a blue county.  And this is really considered a meaningful election," said Yudin, who said that a victory for his two freeholder candidates and maybe even some assembly candidates would mean that "the Republican Party in the state and the Republican Party in Bergen County is back." 

Yudin knows the pain of losing.  He ran for freeholder unsuccessfully three times before he wrested the party's chairmanship from Rob Ortiz in June of last year.  His 2008 freeholder candidates - Chris Calabrese, Jeff Heller and Paul Duggan -- all lost, but by narrower margins than recent races and in a year when Democrats benefited immensely from the Obama wave (Republican County Clerk Kathleen Donovan, who ran a campaign separate from the freeholders, still managed to be the county candidates' top vote getter). 

Now, Republicans are running Mahwah Councilman Rob Hermansen and Paramus activist John Driscoll against Democratic incumbents Julie O'Brien and Vernon Walton.

Republicans might be showing up at political events in Hudson County, but the real battleground of the race for Governor is in Bergen.  No Republican has ever won a statewide election in New Jersey without carrying Bergen County.  In 2005, Jon Corzine beat Douglas Forrester in Bergen by fourteen percentage points and a margin of 34,302 votes. 

To win, Christopher Christie has to turn that around.  The last GOP statewide candidate to carry Bergen was Robert Franks, who received 3,932 votes more than Corzine in the 2000 U.S. Senate race.  Corzine knew that when he picked State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) as his running mate. If Christie carries Bergen by a decent margin, Republicans could oust Democratic Freeholders Julie O'Brien and Vernon Walton with their flotsam and jetsam challengers

This year, Corzine is defending Bergen without the help of Joseph Ferriero, whose fundraising prowess and campaign skills turned the state's largest county from solid Republican to solid Democratic.  Ferriero resigned as County Chairman last year following his indictment on federal corruption charges; his trial begins this fall.  For the last seven years, Ferriero has been in the top ten on the PolitickerNJ.com Power List; he was at #7 last year.  The new Democratic Chairman, Michael Kasparian, starts out at #94.   The problem for Christie is that the relatively new Republican County Chairman, Robert Yudin, isn't on the list at all. While Kasparian still hasn't figured out how to be a County Chairman - Corzine's executive order targeting criminally charged Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez is evidence of that -- Yudin hasn't cast himself in the mold of predecessors like Nelson Gross, Anthony Statile and John Inganamort either.

Bergen County Democratic Chairman Michael Kasparian says he has asked Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez to resign, and wants Bergen County GOP Chairman Robert Yudin to tell a Republican mayor under indictment to do the same.

"I called Anthony Saurez over the weekend to suggest that he resign his office as Mayor of Ridgefield effective  immediately. Although he has not been found guilty of any crime, I believe that these charges are serious enough to warrant the Mayor's undivided attention and as such will greatly diminish his ability to serve his community," Kasparian said. "Regrettably, these charges will also cast doubt upon future actions until they are successfully defended."
 
I make this request with great sorrow for the Mayor and his family,  but recognize  that  maintenance and respect for the publics' trust is greater than any single one of us. To that end,  I ask that my Republican counterpart call for the immediate resignation of indicted Carlstadt Mayor William Roseman which he has yet to do," Kasparian said.

Bergen County Democratic Chairman Michael Kasparian is expected to call for the resignation of Anthony Suarez, the Mayor of Ridgefield who was arrested yesterday on federal corruption charges.  This is Kasparian's first opportunity to publicly repudiate an elected official accused of being on the take - a change from the style of his predecessor.

Charles Stile's must-read column in The Record today underscored what many in Bergen County and around the state have been saying for many months: newly-elected Bergen County Democratic Chairman Michael Kasparian has been reluctant to put an infrastructure in place that would ensure a Democratic victory this November for Jon Corzine and freshmen Freeholders Vernon Walton and Julie O'Brien.

Unlike his predecessor Joseph Ferriero, Kasparian has never served as an elected official and has no experience in running any type of political organization.  He has surrounded himself with Ferriero holdovers, including BCDO spokesman and Trenton lobbyist Bill Maer, leading some to complain that he is sending the wrong message to the voters about cleaning up the county organization even as he has refused to utilize some of the organizational methods Ferriero had in place to turn Bergen County into a Democratic stronghold.

There is much speculation that State Sens. Barbara Buono (D-Metuchen) and Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) could wind up as Gov. Jon Corzine's running mate, but their home county Democratic chairmen are staying clear of making endorsements in the race for Lt. Governor.

Each recognizes the benefits of fielding the woman from his own territory in the number two spot behind Corzine.

"Any politician with a solid base in Bergen County should be considered," said Bergen County Democratic Organization Chairman Michael Kasparian, scanning his home turf of 497,444 registered voters, including 162,488 registered Democrats and 105,488 registered Republicans, where 10.65% of registered Democrats gave Corzine 87% of their vote last Tuesday.

"You lose Bergen, you lose Trenton," he added.

In Middlesex, where a total 410,185 registered voters includes 160,476 Democrats and 52,464 Republicans and where Corzine received 67% of the vote last Tuesday with 18.04% of registered Democrats voting, Middlesex County Democratic Organization Chairman Joseph Spicuzzo likes the idea of Buono to bolster a ticket with Corzine.

"I know she's on the short list," Spicuzzo said. "I don't know whether the governor has committed to her, but it would be a feather in the county's cap to have a lieutenant governor. Of course, it's the governor's choice, but Barbara is a very committed woman who brings a lot of savvy to state government."