Valerie Huttle

As the dust settles in Bergen County and the political parties spin the election results, you can expect to hear the Republicans talking a lot about Rutherford.

It’s where Republican challenger John Hipp trampled Democratic incumbent Mayor Bernadette McPherson -- beating her by a margin of 2-1, and tying the council 3-3, with two Republican candidates ousting incumbent Democrats.

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.

Wojciech Siemaszkiewicz, the Republican candidate for State Assembly in the 37th district, appears to have a valid complaint against a fellow Republican, Bergen County Clerk Kathleen Donovan.  The sample ballots in District 37 list the Democratic incumbents, Loretta Weinberg, Gordon Johnson and Valerie Huttle in a larger, bolder font than the GOP challengers.  While the incumbents have qualified for the "Clean Elections" designation, there is nothing in the law that allows Clean Elections candidates to have their names printed in bigger type on the ballot; indeed, the law specifically requires the names of candidates to be the same size.

The Record has endorsed State Sen. Loretta Weinberg and Assemblywoman Valerie Huttle, and is backing Wojciech Siemaszkiewicz for Assembly against incumbent Gordon Johnson.  READ

Assemblywoman Valerie Huttle was in the mail this week attacking the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission for paying $4.4 million in fees to a "politically connected law firm...as rewards for big campaign contributions and political work."  Since her husband is a partner at perhaps one of the most politically active law firms in the state, DeCotiis, FitzPatrick, Cole & Wisler, the beneficiary of many a reward for big campaign contributions and political work, Huttle gets this week's Ultimate Chutzpah Award.

Wojciech Siemaszkiewicz and Frank Cifarelli, the Republican Assembly candidates in District 37 who complain that PoliticsNJ.com says they can't win, have raised a combined total of $3,810 in a district that hasn't gone Republican since 1971.  The Democratic incumbents, Gordon Johnson and Valerie Huttle, qualified for public financing.

Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero wants Gordon Johnson to "heed is own advice" and decide if he wants to serve in the State Assembly or on the Englewood Council.  Johnson, a Democrat, called for the elimination of dual officeholding at a government reform press conference this week.

“I am calling on the Assemblyman and the Councilman to lead by example and follow his own suggestion,” Ferriero said in a letter to Johnson. “Without the action to back it up, Gordon’s plan amounts to little more than a lecture to the people of the 37th District to ‘Do as I say…not as I serve."

Johnson and his running mates, State Sen. Loretta Weinbeg and Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, recently offered a five-point plan aimed at ‘cleaning up New Jersey.’ The plan calls for eliminating potential conflicts in the legislature by eliminating dual office holding and requiring that those who serve in the Senate or Assembly hold ‘legislator’ as their sole means of employment.

Longtime rivals: State Sen. Loretta Weinberg and Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe FerrieroFour weeks before Election Day, the intra-party battle between State Sen. Loretta Weinberg and Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero heated up today after three Democratic state legislators held a press conference to allege abuses by Democrat-controlled “shadow governments” – local authorities that they say have little or no oversight from Trenton.

The main target of the legislators was the Passaic Valley Sewerage Authority, where Ferriero serves as Chief Counsel. She says that the PVSA has spent over $3.2 million on government relations consultants and $12 million on legal fees since 2001 – with about $4.5 million going to Ferriero’s law firm.

Longtime rivals: State Sen. Loretta Weinberg and Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe FerrieroThe 37th district Democratic legislators sent Bergen County Democratic Organization Chairman Joe Ferriero a letter last night expressing frustration at comments from the organization’s lawyer, Dennis Oury.

In Tuesday’s Bergen Record, Oury told columnist Charles Stile that he planned to go to court to challenge pay to play legislation passed in 2004 and 2005 that was sponsored by state Sen. Loretta Weinberg. The initial legislation set standards for choosing no-bid contracts and limited certain kinds of contributions, while a later piece of legislation allowed local governments to pass stricter pay-to-play laws.

Democratic State Sen. Loretta Weinberg is a strong favorite to win re-election in a Bergen County district the GOP has not won since 1971.

For Republicans to stand any chance at all, their candidates say they’ll need to qualify for public financing from the Clean Elections pilot program.

But right now they’re not even close.