Paul DiGaetano

State Sen. Kevin O'Toole (R-Cedar Grove)

Insiders lay out several battlefields this year, and Republican or Democrat, it’s not two or three gulps of beer into a conversation before they spill the strategic terrain of the coming legislative contests.

The Democrats will put money into 1 to defend their incumbents there, and they will try to take down the Republican incumbents in 2. They’ll play in 8 again largely as a diversionary tactic, defend in 14 and – and this is big - heavily fortify 36, where the GOP last time came within 2,400 votes of stripping the Dems of a seat.

Representatives in both parties usually mention the last of these prospective showdowns as the most meaningful, a potential north Jersey version of the 12th District Karcher-Beck war in 2007, where both parties will likely lay down their heaviest barrage.

For the moment, Democrats feel they have some GOP civil war drama on their side, and are gleefully inclined to let the Republican body count mount at this fractious tri-county, multi-ego crossroads of Passaic, Bergen and Essex, before they get in and scrap in earnest to protect Assemblyman Fred Scalera (D-Nutley) and Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic).

Better to let the other side give itself a good going over before taking casualties. That’s the attitude.

At a packed meeting of the county committee tonight in the Franklin Lakes Firehouse, Bergen County Republican Party Chairman Bob Yudin endorsed incumbent District 40 Assemblymen Scott Rumana and David C. Russo.

Earlier today, Yudin told PolitickerNJ.com that prior to Feb. 2nd he would make a decision about whether he would back the incumbents or candidates backed by former chair Peter Murphy, an ally of former Assembly Majority Leader Paul DiGaetano (R-Passaic).

Tonight, Yudin announced that decision in what was a victory for current Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Parsippany-Troy Hills), who had feared a primary battle fueled by Yudin's support of candidates other than Rumana and Russo.

In a tortured political terrain, Republican power players in the 36th  legislative district appear to be slowly coalescing around East Rutherford Councilman/businessman Joel Brizzi and Nutley businessman Carmen Pio Costa as their best chance ticket this year. 

It’s not yet set – in this geographically jagged district encompassing battle weary portions of Bergen, Passaic and Essex counties – nothing is ever really set, and there are candidate screening opportunities, after all; but there remain real factors immediately outside the district threatening party implosion. 

Sensing opportunity after coming close to victory two years ago, the party – and this goes all the way up to the top of the hierarchy - wants to stay focused here in the 36th despite the flailing fortunes of divided Republicans in the neighboring 40th.  

Toward that end, local leaders will sit down tonight at the Franklin Lakes Firehouse and try to re-establish in their sights the deeply fractured Bergen Democrats as their enemies and Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic) and Assemblyman Fred Scalera (D-Nutley) as statehouse targets one and two.

Former Assembly Majority Leader Paul DiGaetano has responded to a column by The Record’s Alfred Doblin about Bergen County GOP Chairman Bob Yudin.  Doblin reports that Yudin promised Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce that he would not support any effort to withdraw organization support for Assembly incumbents in District 40 – and that now Yudin is under some pressure to “break his word.”

The full text of DiGaetano’s letter follows:

New Jersey Veterans for McCain will hold a rally tonight in Carlstadt, but Bergen County GOP Chairman and U.S. Navy veteran Bob Yudin has been left off the guest list.  Yudin seemed to annoy some Republicans last week when he named former Assembly Majority Leader Paul DiGaetano, an Essex County resident, as the Bergen County campaign coordinator for the Republican ticket headed by John McCain.  DiGaetano is in a bitter feud with State Sen. Kevin O’Toole, an early McCain supporter who represents part of Bergen County in the State Senate – and is also the Essex County Democratic Chairman.  Yudin has unsuccessfully sought to get Douglas Doyle, a politically active Bergen County lawyer, named as the McCain county coordinator.

Bergen County Republican Chairman Bob Yudin has named Assembly Majority Leader Paul DiGaetano as the coordinator for the 2008 Republican ticket headed by John McCain. That’s an interesting choice since DiGaetano lives in Essex County, although he represented part of South Bergen in the Legislature for sixteen years. By naming DiGaetano, who left the Legislature in 2005 to run unsuccessfully for Governor, Yudin is taking a real shot at Kevin O’Toole, the Essex County Republican Chairman and a State Senator who represents Yudin’s own district. O’Toole and DiGaetano are bitter rivals.

Some Republican leaders believe Nutley Mayor Joanne Cocchiola and Rutherford Mayor John Hipp would make a strong ticket for the State Assembly against incumbents Frederick Scalera and Gary Schaer in the 36th district next year.  Last won by Republican Paul DiGaetano in 2003, the 36th was the closest race in the state last year in a district where the EnCap development at the Meadowlands has led to the defeat of more than a dozen local officials.

Bergen County Republican Chairman Rob Ortiz and challenger Bob Yudin are furiously working the phones today in preparation for Tuesday’s runoff election for the party’s top seat.

The key to winning the chairmanship will be to appeal to the 115 voters who supported Ben Focarino last night before he was knocked out of the race. But, due to a rule reversal, Ortiz and Yudin will also have the opportunity to appeal to voters who missed last night’s election.

That has renewed controversy over whether or not to allow those who didn’t vote last night to vote next Tuesday.

When the results were read last night, Election Committee Chairwoman Patricia DiCostanzo announced that Tuesday’s runoff would be restricted to last night’s voters.

That first upset Yudin, who objected to it before acquiescing a few minutes later, while Ortiz’s supporters agreed with it.

But that ruling was apparently reversed this morning by Ortiz, allowing all county committee voters to participate.

Lobbyist Boss continues non-inclusive trend

The race for Bergen County Republican Chairman between incumbent Robert Ortiz and challenger Robert Yudin is being viewed as a proxy fight of sorts between two outsiders with influence over Bergen County politics.  Ortiz has the backing of State Sen. Kevin O’Toole, the Essex County Republican Chairman, while Yudin is receiving help from former Assembly Majority Leader and gubernatorial candidate Paul DiGaetano.  O’Toole and DiGaetano are political rivals whose relationship has deteriorated exponentially over the last two years.