Michael Wildes

Englwood Mayor Michael Wildes and President Barack Obama

Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes, who announced on Friday that he will not seek re-election to a third term this year, has over $1 million in a federal campaign account.  He's been waiting for a chance to run for Congress with the same intensity that U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman has been positioning himself to run statewide. 

One option for Wildes, who is a fundraising machine, would be to push state Democratic leaders to move Englewood - and maybe some other more Democrat-friendly towns - into the fifth district after the 2010 census.  That could set up a race between Wildes and conservative U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-Wantage) in 2012.

Possible candidates for Mayor of Englewood include, left to right, Councilman Scott Reddin, Councilwoman Charlotte Bennett-Schoen, and Bergen County Freeholder Vernon Walton.

Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes decision not to seek a third term will become an early test for newly-elected Bergen County Democratic Chairman Michael Kasparian.  Kasparian must decide if he will award the organization line this spring to a candidate backed by the traditionally anti-organization Englewood Democratic Party, support a candidate recommended by Wildes, or seek a compromise candidate that both factions can agree upon.

According to The Record, Council President Charlotte Bennett Schoen and Councilman Scott Reddin are mulling mayoral bids.  Englewood Democratic Municipal Chair Deirdre Glenn Paul, a professor at Montclair State University, is also a potential candidate.  And some Democrats say that Rev. Vernon Walton, a Bergen County Freeholder and former Englewood Councilman, could also emerge as a mayoral candidate.

The announcement that U.S. Rep. Steven Rothman will spend Election Day in Chicago with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama fuels speculation that the Congressman from Bergen County may be up for a post in the new administration.  Rothman has said he has no interest, but then again, that's what they all say just before they take the job.

Rothman has been interested in moving up to the United States Senate, and he clearly has his eye on the seat of 84-year-old Democrat Frank Lautenberg, who is expected to win re-election to a record fifth term tomorrow.  Rothman and other Democrats are already planning as if the Senate seat will open up in 2014, and the harsh reality is that many of the potential candidates get that it might not take that long.  An Obama administration post doesn't necessarily take Rothman out of contention for a U.S. Senate seat (indeed, it could actually propel him past other Democratic Congressmen), unless the seat opens up within the next year or two.  

If Rothman leaves, the front runner to replace him was supposed to be State Sen. Paul Sarlo.  But recent health issues for the 40-year-old Bergen County Democrat are considered serious, and that could take Sarlo out of the race if there is a special election early next year.

Some Democratic insiders suggest that one casualty of yesterday's indictments of Joseph Ferriero and Dennis Oury will be Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney, who has always been more popular with Ferriero than with local Democratic party leaders.  McNerney has two years left in his second term, and there's a good chance, sources say, that the post-Ferriero Bergen County Democratic Organization will seek a new candidate for County Executive in 2010.

The county committee races in legislative district 37 led to a war of words today between Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes and state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, which even led to an argument about what kind of car each of them drives.

In response to Wildes’s claim that the Real Bergen Democrats have dispatched more than a dozen out-of-state canvassers who appear “grungy,” state Sen. Loretta Weinberg said that grunginess is in the eye of the beholder.

“I happen to think (Wildes) grungy, and it has nothing to do with his appearance,” said Weinberg. “It has to do with his political affiliations.”

Wildes is a consistent foe of Weinberg, and last year aborted a primary challenge against her after she brokered a peace with Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe Ferriero. That agreement broke down six months after it was made, however, and the county committee fights in Englewood, Bergenfield and Teaneck are the feud’s latest manifestations.

In Bergen County, where State Sen. Loretta Weinberg is seeking to wrestle Democratic County Committee seats away from party leader Joseph Ferriero in several District 37 towns, there are reports of more than a dozen people from outside New Jersey who are being paid, and housed, to help turn out voters for the Weinberg camp.  “Locals in Teaneck, Englewood and Bergenfield say the workers appear somewhat ‘grungy’ and the desperate measures the Real Bergen Democrats are employing in folks being the primary messengers against Joe Ferriero may backfire in Weinberg's face,” Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes, a Ferriero ally, told PolitickerNJ.com. 

There is little doubt that Congressman Steve Rothman has become a major guy in Barack Obama’s campaign.  So if Obama were to win the presidency, it’s not crazy to view Rothman as a possible candidate for appointment to a major executive branch post  -- eight of the last nine presidents (Lyndon Johnson was the exception) named sitting Members of Congress to cabinet posts. 

Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes today said he would not Mayor Michael Wildeschallenge U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman as long as Rothman has the organization line in Bergen County.

“I would need the party support to go forward,” said Wildes, an ally of Bergen County Democratic Organization (BCDO) Chairman Joseph Ferriero, who yesterday issued a statement of support for U.S. Frank Lautenberg.

Earlier in the week, Rothman had threatened Ferriero with legal action if the chairman removed Lautenberg from Bergen’s line A on the ballot to replace him with U.S. Rep Rob Andrews, who this week jumped in the Democratic primary against Lautenberg.

Congressman Steve Rothman beat up on Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero today, effectively stopping the powerful party leader from endorsing Rob Andrews for U.S. Senate today. But if Ferriero suddenly develops some testicular fortitude and backs Andrews before the April 7 filing deadline, there could be some payback for Rothman too.

These days, State Senator Loretta Weinberg won’t speak to Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes or Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero unless she absolutely has to. So many people were wondering why Weinberg, minus Assemblywoman Valerie Huttle and Assemblyman (and Lyndon LaRouche donor) Gordon Johnson, who both live in Englewood, dragged herself to a fundraiser for Senator Frank Lautenberg at Wildes’ home last night and stayed until nearly the last person left.