November 5, 2008 - 8:58pm
Inside Edge

Passaic Freeholder gets 10% in mayoral bid

Democrat-turned-Independent James Gallagher won't have to give up his seat on the Passaic County Board of Freeholders: he finished a dismal third in his bid for Mayor of Little Falls, polling just 10% of the vote.  Republicans held the mayors office, with first-time candidate Michael DeFrancisci defeating Democrat John Agostelli by 55 votes.  Gallagher has had a rocky relationship with Passaic Democrats in recent years, and was likely to lose party support when his seat comes up in 2009. 

Had he been elected Mayor, Gallagher, the son-in-law of former Paterson Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Lawrence "Pat" Kramer, would have been required to resign his Freeholder seat in January -- which would have triggered a special election convention among Democrats to fill his seat.

Wally Edge can be reached via email at politicsnj@aol.com.