Garden State Patriot

Here is the second of my interviews with the Bergen Freeholder candidates. In this interview with John Driscoll we also touch upon open space and property taxes, but also venture into the issue of municipal consolidation and the question of whether Bergen should maintain a county police force.

I’d like to once again thank both candidates for their time. If you live in Bergen I hope you will give them your support and vote on Election Day. 

Once again, here are Rob and John’s web sites: Rob Hermansen for Freeholder, John Driscoll for Freeholder

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!

Obviously, the governor’s race here in New Jersey is garnering plenty of attention – both locally and nationally. But there are also many assembly and county level races of importance as well. Such is the case here in Bergen County where an oportunity exists to make a dent in a Freeholder board which has been under Democratic control for the past 6 years (and under their complete control for the past 3). Like their counterparts down in Trenton, fiscal restraint and discipline is not something they like to practice – as seen in the video I posted last week. Candidates Hermansen and Driscoll plan to put a stop to that and bring some sanity back to managing Bergen County’s finances.  

With that said, here is the first my two interviews with each candidate, beginning with Rob Hermansen. Watch here as we discuss a number of issues, from corruption at the BCDO, open space and – of course – property taxes. And please check in again tomorrow for my interview with John Driscoll.

For more information on both candidates, be sure to check out their web sites: Rob Hermansen for Freeholder, John Driscoll for Freeholder

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!

In what could be a real blow to Corzine in this very close election, former Bergen County Democrat Organization head, “Goomba” Joe Ferriero, has been found guilty on fraud charges:

BERGENFIELD — The former northern New Jersey political boss Joseph Ferriero was found guilty by a federal jury this afternoon, according to a report in The Record.

During the third day of deliberations, Ferriero was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to defraud and two counts of mail fraud, according to the report, but was acquitted on five other mail fraud counts.

Prosecutors had argued that Ferriero and Dennis Oury, who was borough attorney for Bergenfield, had conspired to defraud the town by hiding their co-ownership of a consulting business. The consulting firm had sought contracts from towns in the county.

Ferriero was head of the county’s Democratic organization from 1998 to 2008; Oury was borough attorney for Bergenfield.

Oury had pleaded guilty and testified against Ferriero.

And here is a statement on the verdict released by Assemblyman DeCroce:

The guilty verdict of the former Bergen County Democratic chairman is another example of how Governor Corzine and his party have allowed corruption, which robs money from honest residents, to fester throughout the state, Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce said today. 

            A jury found former Joseph Ferriero, once one of the most powerful figures in New Jersey Democratic politics, guilty of defrauding the residents of Bergenfield . He was found guilty of conspiracy and two counts of mail fraud. 

            “The jury’s verdict of Ferriero is also an indictment of Governor Corzine who turns his back on ethical behavior and reform in order to further his own political goals,” DeCroce said. “The governor has refused several calls for a special legislative session to enact tough anti-corruption measures. Even worse, he has funneled millions into the campaign accounts of power brokers such as Ferriero, while portraying himself as a champion of campaign finance reform. The governor’s intent is reflected by his actions, not his talk.” 

            Corzine, and his family, have contributed more than $440,000 to the political accounts of Ferriero and former State Sen. Joseph Coniglio, D-Bergen, who has also been convicted of corruption. 

            DeCroce said Assembly Republicans stand ready to vote on a comprehensive package of legislation that would suspend indicted officials, take away pensions from those convicted and eliminate the corrupting influence of campaign contributions from government contracts. 

            “We are prepared to implement real ethics reform before another one of the governor’s cronies is sent to prison,” DeCroce said. “Although Governor Corzine is satisfied with our current system that since 2002 has seen more than 100 public officials convicted, the public demands more from those who influence how public dollars are spent.

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!

Here is a video of the Bergen County freeholders taken at last month’s meeting. A citizen asks them about a $100,000 grant they are to be voting on to purchase property in River Edge. Here is how it unfolded:

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!

With his long-awaited corruption trial scheduled to begin Thursday, former BCDO heavy, ‘Goomba’ Joe Ferriero received some bad news today. His partner in crime, Dennis Oury, pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and, in so doing, implicated Ferriero. From Bloomberg:

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — A former counsel to the Bergen County Democratic Organization in New Jersey pleaded guilty two days before he and the party’s ex-chairman were scheduled to go on trial on corruption charges.

Dennis J. Oury, 59, admitted conspiring with Joseph A. Ferriero, the former chairman, to defraud the borough of Bergenfield, New Jersey, of his honest services. Oury, the former municipal attorney in Bergenfield, implicated Ferriero, saying they hid their interest in a grants-writing firm and tried to influence government officials to secure business.

“Did you have an understanding with Joseph Ferriero that neither of you would publicly disclose your involvement” in the firm, Governmental Grants Consulting, or GCC, U.S. District Judge Stanley Chesler asked Oury in federal court in Newark, New Jersey. Oury agreed.

Before their indictment in September 2008, Ferriero was one of the most powerful political figures in New Jersey. Ferriero and Oury were indicted by former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey for seven years. Christie is running as the Republican candidate to unseat Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine in the November election.

Oury, who faces up to 20 years in prison, also admitted failing to file a federal income tax return in 2006. Chesler set sentencing for Jan. 7.

According to PolitickerNJ, Ferriero does not plan on pleading guilty and his trial will go forward. Any way you slice it, this is bad news and bad timing for Governor Jonny as the stench of Democratic corruption emanating from Bergen County – perhaps the key county in November’s election – will only hurt his already fading chances for re-election.

At the same time, hopefully it will boost the chances of Republican victories in the freeholder races in Bergen where Democrats under Ferriero have run the show for more than a decade.

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!

According to PolitickerNJ, District 40 Assemblyman Scott Rumana is using a front group called the Republican Alliance to help his re-election bid. The co-chair of the group is Robert Pimienta, a major donor to the corrupt Bergen County Democrat Organization formerly led by the now indicted Joe Ferriero.

Pimienta operates Impact PAC, and is a major donor to Bergen County Democrats and their indicted former chairman Joseph Ferriero.

Pimienta has, according to the Record newspaper, donated more than $90,000 to Bergen Democrats and in return received a no bid contract that paid him more than $250,000.  

The most recent Republican Alliance flier has drawn the ire of two mayors in Rumana’s district, Randy George of North Haledon and John Coiro of Totowa. Each mayor was named in the flier while neither is supporting Rumana’s candidacy. They are also upset about being linked in any way to Pimienta and, thus, have demanded that their names be removed from the flier.

“I do not support Scott Rumana or any organization allied with him and I do not want my name used for any function that is run my Mr. Rumana or Mr. Semeraro, “ said Mayor George.  

“As far as I am concerned Scott Rumana and Mark Semeraro are a big part of what is wrong with the Republican Party in Passaic County and I will not have my good name used to support the selfish political goals of Mr. Rumana,”  added George 

Mayor Coiro said  he is not party to the June 4 event and using his name to  raise money for Rumana amounts to deception.

“People reading this flier and considering buying a ticket to the event might get the impression that I am supporting Rumana and Semeraro. That is absolutely not the case,” said Coiro. 

“The Republican Alliance is a front group for Rumana. It is not a group interested in helping Republicans win campaigns. I do not want my name associated with such an organization,” added Mayor Coiro.  

Mayor George added that anyone thinking about attending the June 4 event should reconsider. “If you want to support ineptitude in the Republican Party, then by all means support the Republican Alliance,” said George.  

Assemblyman Rumana, along with Assemblyman Russo, of course, are facing a primary challenge from conservatives Joe Caruso and Anthony Rottino. Caruso and Rottino likewise had harsh words for their rivals earlier this week, likening them to Republican turncoat Arlen Specter:

(more…)

According to the Bergen Record, Bergen County Democratic Organization Chairman “Goomba” Joe Ferriero announced yesterday that he will resign effective January 22nd.

Bergen County Democratic Organization Chairman Joseph Ferriero announced Friday — after months of pressure from fellow Democrats — that he will resign as the group’s leader, effective Jan. 22.

Ferriero also declared that he was ending his leave of absence immediately to “assure a smooth transition.”

A federal grand jury indicted Ferriero and BCDO counsel Dennis Oury this fall on charges of conspiracy to commit fraud. Ferriero’s trial is set for September.

“I believe that it would adversely affect our party and our candidates if I were to continue to serve as chairman while on trial several weeks before the November election,” he said in a letter. “It is for that reason that I am calling a special county committee meeting for Jan. 22, 2009, to elect a successor.”

The move avoids a fight within the BCDO as they had called on Ferriero to resign by this coming Thursday if he were yet to prove his innocence on charges of charges of conspiracy to commit fraud.

Several prominent Democrats, including Bergen Congressman Steve Rothman, had tried to oust Ferriero. But Rothman didn’t have the muscle to budge the Ferriero machine.

Democrats, of course, are trying at all costs to get the Ferriero monkey off their back with key elections upcoming this November in the state, starting with the Governorship and the State Legislature. The next move will be fore the BCDO to select a new Chairman who will have the task of cleaning up the BCDO’s image – and trying to make Bergen voters forget.

But that will be a tough task. Ferriero’s trial on corruption charges are still scheduled to take place in Septemeber smack dab in the middle of the election season, giving Bergen Republicans a golden opportunity to exploit this issue. The only question is: can they?

NOTE: This post can also be found at redcounty.com

According to the Bergen Record, Fair Lawn borough prosecutor Mark Fierro has violated the town’s pay-to-play-ordinance. And, like all roads leading to Rome, this one leads directly to the already tainted Bergen County Democratic Organization (BCDO). Per The Record:

The borough prosecutor violated a Fair Lawn ordinance meant to curb political donations in return for no-bid contracts when his wife gave money to the Bergen County Democratic Organization, the borough attorney said Tuesday night.

In a letter to Borough Attorney Bruce Rosenberg, Prosecutor Mark Fierro wrote that his wife made out the $2,500 check in the summer of 2006, shortly after the borough passed the ordinance and asked all contractors to sign disclosure forms stating that neither they or their family members had made donations to the BCDO, Rosenberg said.

Moreover, according to town Republicans, the Democrats have set up a PAC to get around the new pay-to-pay ordinances.

Councilwoman Jeanne Baratta and fellow Republican council member Ed Trawinski have questioned donations from about 10 companies with borough contracts to accounts registered with a political action committee called Victory, because they say the political action committee has close ties to the Bergen County Democratic Organization.

“It’s the alter-ego of the BCDO for the precise purpose of being able to avoid local pay-to-play laws,” Trawinski said.

Democrats, of course, deny the charges yet somehow donations somehow ‘mistakenly’ have wound up in BCDO coffers.

But Rosenberg said he found that the Victory accounts were opened to raise money for county freeholder candidates, not borough candidates, and are therefore allowed under the ordinance. All the companies disclosed their donations to Victory before they were given contracts in the borough, he said.

In addition to the 10, Baratta has singled out the borough auditor, Ferraioli Weilkotz, Cerulla & Cuva, which she says violated the ordinance when one of its partners made a donation to the BCDO.

The firm — along with Rosenberg — says it did not violate the ordinance because a $1,750 check from partner Charles Ferraioli was made out to the Victory PAC, but was mistakenly deposited in a BCDO account. The two political organizations share an address and account administrator. 

At this point one wonders just how long Bergen County residents will continue to tolerate the rampant corruption of Bergen County Democrats. And one wonders, too, if Bergen Republicans can actually begin to make this a salient issue for voters.