Michael Kasparian

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."

Update: "The leadership of the Hackensack University Medical Center Board of Governors consulted with the hospital administration and everyone agreed to reverse the decision regarding The Record. We apologize to our patients and our staff for any inconvenience, and we apologize to The Record.  We are putting this incident behind us and moving forward." -- Statement issued by Rubenstein Associates on behalf of the HUMC Board.

Ignoring Mark Twain's advice about not picking fights with people who buy ink by the barrel, the increasingly tone deaf Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC) will no longer advertise in The Record, and has banned the newspaper from being sold or distributed on hospital property.  The move appears to be retaliatory: The Record ran a story on Sunday that "detailed how various board members help to underwrite Bergen County's Democratic leadership and how several trustees do business with the hospital - a practice prohibited at some North Jersey hospitals." The Record also ran a hard-hitting story this week on contractor Joseph Sanzari, a major donor and HUMC player. 

HUMC may have a stronger case on pulling advertising than it does by banning the newspaper from their property.

The relationship between the hospital and politics was underscored recently by the conviction of former State Sen. Joseph Coniglio (D-Paramus) on federal corruption charges.  HUMC, which was not prosecuted and where one individual received immunity in order to testify, had hired Coniglio as a $5,000-per-month plumbing consultant, a move a jury found was to facilitate a the receipt in millions of dollars in state funds.

The feud between The Record, which actually defied the newspaper industry with an increase in circulation this year, and HUMC can't be good news for Bergen County Democrats.  Michael Kasparian, who succeeded Joseph Ferriero as County Chairman, is also a major player at HUMC, and Bill Maer, a political consultant for the BCDO, is also a HUMC lobbyist.  Kasparian ran on a platform that included a pledge for mandatory ethics training for party leaders; he has since decided that ethics training will be optional.  (And to The Record's credit, they noted that their Vice President and General Counsel, Jennifer Borg, is also on the HUMC board.)

When he was running for Bergen County Democratic Chairman after Joseph Ferriero resigned, Michael Kasparian pledged a series of reforms which would "first and foremost include the implementation of an ethics training program for all candidates who desire the support of our party.  This commitment will be similar to the state mandated program that all commissioners and authority members, myself included, must complete annually."

Now Kasparian has changed his mind.  He's still offering the ethics training, which includes a written test, but he's making it optional.  There will be no penalty for party leaders who decline to complete the training, take the test, or fail the test. 

The lawyer for the BCDO says they can't compel County Committee members to take ethics training.  But they really can: Kasparian can agree to deny the organization line to any candidate who does not pass the ethics training.

The Bergen County Democratic Organization (BCDO), which in the past year has seen indictments of its party chairman, counsel and the conviction of a state senator, set up an ethics training program for all county committee members and party officials last week.

The program, however, is not mandatory, which BCDO chairman Michael Kasparian called for when he was first seeking to replace indicted Chairman Joseph Ferriero. 

Kasparian made ethics training a major part of his campaign to succeed Ferriero, listing it as the first item of his six plank platform.  Although not mandatory, he's encouraging county committee members to go one of two routes: either attend a May 20 ethics training seminar at Bergen Community College, where Gov. Jon Corzine will be a guest, or watch a Power Point presentation online before submitting a test. 

"The county committee people are elected officials, so as a private organization, it's not the chairman's intent to make this mandatory," said BCDO counsel Joe Ariyan, who added that he did not believe that Kasparian had the legal authority to force ethics training on committee members, even if he wanted to.  "It is encouraged, because the chairman ran on a platform in part on ethics reform, awareness and transparency."

The 26-page Power Point presentation was put together by retired Superior Court Judge Daniel Mecca.  It does not delve into exhaustive detail, instead covering the basics of potential conflicts created by business relationships with local entities, fundraising, event attendance, gift acceptance and other prohibited outside activities.  It outlines when should recuse themselves, and penalties they can face if they do not. 

Dennis McNerney has won four consecutive races in New Jersey's largest county, but he's not being considered at all for Lt. Governor.

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.

Michael Kasparian succeeded Joe Ferriero as Bergen County Democratic Chairman ten weeks ago.

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.

Gov. Jon Corzine

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.

Teaneck Councilman Adam Gussen, who last week filed papers with the Bergen County Democratic Organization to run against Assembly members Gordon Johnson (D-Englewood) and Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Fair Lawn), has withdrawn.

“Though I have no doubt of my potential for success in this race, I truly understand the need for a strong and united Bergen County Democratic Organization,” Gussen said in a statement. “I want to thank those who encouraged me to run and let them know that their support was greatly appreciated.  I can not rule out future runs for the Legislature.”

Gussen’s challenge was not welcome by BCDO Chairman Michael Kasparian, who as a good will gesture last month stated that he would not field a challenge against the incumbents, who are aligned the Real Bergen Democrats -- a group of reformers that has traditionally been at odds with the larger county party and its indicted former chairman, Joe Ferriero.

Republicans have not yet settled on who they're going to run for assembly in the 39th  legislative district, but two Democrats are eager to take on whoever is on the Republican ticket. 

John Shahdanian, a labor attorney and Democratic municipal chairman from Old Tappan, and Michael McCarthy, the political director of a stage hands' union, have both filed to run for the party line in the District 39 convention. 

The district, a Republican stronghold where Democrats haven't won since 1977 despite their dominance in the rest of the county, saw a well-funded but unsuccessful challenge two years ago by Democrats, who spent millions on the state senate campaign of attorney Joseph Ariyan and the assembly campaigns of River Edge Councilwoman Esther Fletcher and Dumont Councilman Carl Manna.  Despite the effort, state Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Demarest) and assembly incumbents John Rooney (R-Northvale) and Charlotte Vandervalk (R-Montvale) all won by comfortable margins.

"They got the wheels in motion. I think the tide is turning, and we can do really well," said Shahdanian. 

One Bergen County Democratic insider who worked on the 2007 campaign called it "our Vietnam" and doubted that the local party, let alone the state party, would again pour significant resources into the district - especially when it is still reeling by the indictment of its former chairman, Joe Ferriero.  And it's not yet officially known if Rooney, who last time around was considered the most vulnerable incumbent, will run again.  Republican sources say he won't.