Ben Focarino

Yudin headed for resounding victory on Tuesday

Ben Focarino, who came in third in Tuesday’s election for Bergen County Republican chairman, has thrown his support behind challenger Bob Yudin in next weeks runoff against current Chairman Robert Ortiz.

If Focarino’s former supporters follow his lead, the endorsement could be significant. Ortiz had 277 votes on Tuesday to Yudin’s 262. Focarino had 115 votes in this week’s election.

Whoever wins the election next Tuesday will preside over the party for the next two years. Ortiz has led it since winning a special election in July after former Chairman Guy Talarico resigned.

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.

Leadership for the Bergen County Republican Organization is in flux tonight, as Chairman Rob Ortiz will have to fight on another week to keep his post.

Ortiz was the narrow top vote-getter in tonight’s election, with 277 votes to former freeholder candidate Bob Yudin’s 262 and Ben Focarino’s 115.

That means there will be a runoff election next Tuesday between Ortiz and Yudin.

“We won, just not by enough,” said Ortiz.

Fresh from his U.S. Senate candidacy, newly minted Bergen County Committeeman Murray Sabrin walked into Republican Headquarters tonight to cast his vote for county chairman. 

Sabrin was accompanied by his wife, Florence, who started a freeholder bid here on Sabrin’s rebel slate before Chairman Rob Ortiz’s allies successfully challenged her petition signatures.  She is now also a county committeewoman. 

Sabrin, a Fort Lee resident, wouldn’t say who he planned to vote for, but he eliminated one of the three choices.

“Let’s put it this way: it’s not Rob Ortiz,” said Sabrin.

Immediately after Rob Ortiz was elected to preside over the beleaguered Bergen County Republican Organization ten months ago, he told the party rank and file not to expect any miracles.

While Bob Yudin and Ben Focarino did not expect divine intervention, the two believe that Ortiz has failed to deliver on last summer's campaign promises, and both are competing with him for the party's top post tomorrow night.

Ortiz campaigned last year on his ability to raise money and has pulled the Republican Party out of debt - even if the party coffers are far from flush. And Ortiz touts local pickups in several Bergen County municipalities last November, even after just three months in office. But that's not enough for Yudin and Focarino, who feel that Ortiz has turned inward to a small circle of advisors and hold that, while Republicans made progress in some local towns, it was in spite of - not because of - Ortiz.

The race to watch next week is the contest for Bergen County Republican Chairman, where incumbent Rob Ortiz, who took over after embattled party leader Guy Talarico resigned last June, faces a challenge from former Freeholder candidate Robert Yudin and former Bergen County Utilities Authority Chairman Ben Focarino, an old hand in the BCRO who ran against Ortiz last year. Ortiz has faced criticism for, among other things, promoting the embattled Andy Unanue for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination earlier this year.

When Rob Ortiz assumed the chairmanship of the Bergen County Republican Organization five months ago, he made it clear in his inaugural speech not to expect any miracles. And it would indeed take a miracle to bring unity to the organization so quickly, which today seems to remain almost as fractious as when he took over.

Already, two potential challengers to Ortiz come June appear on the horizon: former Bergen County Utilities Authority Chairman Ben Focarino, an old hand in the BCRO who ran against Ortiz in July, and former freeholder candidate Bob Yudin.

So far, Ortiz has touted some municipal victories, particularly in Rutherford, as evidence that the party is clawing its way back to relevance against the dominant Bergen County Democrats. But many Bergen County Republicans who agreed to put aside loyalties and give Ortiz a chance to revive the party have already started making noise about the glacial pace of progress, and are disappointed that Ortiz – who largely ran on his fundraising abilities – has yet to bring the party out of debt, which stands at a better-than-expected $38,000 (a number discovered after an audit commissioned by Ortiz).

The average age of the county committeemen and women who cast votes at the election for Bergen County Republican Organization Chairman was probably somewhere north of 60. But in the end, youth triumphed.

Thirty-five-year-old Robert Ortiz, an attorney, prominent Republican fundraiser and relative newcomer to the local political scene, won with 263 votes. Long time party activist Ben Focarino, 64 garnered 171 votes, while former New Jersey Christian Coalition Director Bill Thomson, 57, got 24.

Attorney Rob Ortiz was elected Bergen County Republican Chairman tonight, easily defeating two opponents to succeed Guy Talarico at the helm of a struggling party organization.

Ortiz won  263 votes, to 171 for Bergenfield GOP Chairman Ben Focarino and 24 for former New Jersey Christian Coalition President Bill Thomson.