Joe Ferriero

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Almost immediately after Bergen County Clerk Kathleen Donovan returns home, her reelection campaign will kick into high gear.
Donovan, a Republican delegate from the 9^th Congressional District, has four events lined up for Saturday related to her reelection campaign against Democratic challenger Diane Testa.

But you won’t hear Donovan use the same kind of rhetoric about Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe Ferriero, who’s under investigation, as the freeholder candidates beneath her on the Republican ticket. Donovan won’t comment on Ferriero, but she said that’s not because she’s still hoping that her allies will find an opportunity to appoint her to a judgeship, she said.

“We run together but we have different issues. That’s the best way I can explain that,” said Donovan, who after 20 years in office remains the last Republican county-wide officeholder in the once solidly GOP county. “I don’t comment on any kind of investigation. I’m not involved in anything in my capacity as county clerk, so I don’t talk about that at all.”

DENVER -- Former Assembly candidate Cid Wilson, who ran and aborted a primary campaign against District 37 Assembly members Gordon Johnson and Valerie Vainieri-Huttle, said today that he may run again.

“The answer is that I’m exploring all my options, and I very much believe that regardless of what I decide to do, I’m going to be an active leader in Bergen County, because I’ve always cared about the issues affecting Bergen County,” he said.  “I’m giving it a very strong look, and I am leaning towards running.”

DENVER -- While an FBI raid a law office might unsettle the average politician, Joe Ferriero does not fit into that category.

It was business as usual tonight for the ultra-powerful Bergen County Democratic Chairman, who came to the Pepsi Center tonight with a smile and a tan. 

“I was here last night, I’ll be here through the convention. I was hosting meetings, doing fundraising, doing everything I’ve done the last two conventions I’ve been a delegate,” he said, denying talk of his relatively low profile in the delegation. 

Ferriero’s law office was raided late last week as part of an ongoing federal probe by U.S. Attorney Chris Christie.  But he seemed confident as ever tonight, even pledging that Barack Obama is going to make an appearance in Bergen County.

“I’m sure that he will be in Bergen County,” he said.

With a primary challenge from Joe Ferriero’s Bergen County Democratic Organization (BCDO) always looming for Assemblyman Gordon Johnson, he announced earlier this week that he would resign from the Englewood City Council in March.

Although Johnson belongs to a slate of Democrats that has protested the practice of dual office-holding and voted to ban it, he has held an Englewood City Council since defeating a Ferriero ally, Rev. Vernon Walton, in a primary in 2006 (Walton is now a freeholder).

Ferriero allies have called Johnson’s hold on two offices hypocrisy, even if Johnson pledged not to seek another term.

DENVER -- State Sen. Bob Gordon (D-Fair Lawn) said he can’t comment on the timing of the FBI’s raid on Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe Ferriero’s law offices just last week, but after emerging from watching Sen. Bob Menendez speaking at this morning’s delegate breakfast, he couldn’t help but draw a parallel.

“We just listened to Bob Menendez and I was reminded of the U.S. Attorney’s office filing subpoenas and investigating him a matter of weeks before his election,” he said.

Ferriero is in town for the convention, but it’s hard to find him. He’s been laying low, appearing at few public events, although he did show up at the delegation’s downtown party last night.

Gordon actually owes his ascendance from the Assembly to the Senate in part to both U.S. Attorney Chris Christie and Ferriero. If Christie hadn’t investigated former State Sen. Joe Coniglio, which ultimately resulted in an indictment, Coniglio wouldn’t have been pressured to resign his seat. And it was Ferriero whose endorsement virtually assured that Gordon would replace Coniglio.

The day after FBI agents seized eight boxes of documents from the law office of Jospeh Ferriero, State Party Chairman Joseph Cryan said he does not plan to ask the Bergen County Democratic chairman to sit out the national convention, which starts next week.

Cryan’s answer to the question about Ferriero was straightforward.

"No," he said. "I’m not going to ask him to stay home."

The Bergen Record reported yesterday that agents stormed the offices of both Ferriero and Bergen County Democratic Organization attorney Dennis Oury.

Tricia Mueller, state director of the Obama campaign, would not comment on Ferriero’s troubles, saying only, "We’re completely deferring to the Democratic Committee."

In recent months, Democrats in general have questioned the timing and political motivations of U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, a likely Republican gubernatorial candidate.

The search warrant executed on Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe Ferriero’s law office comes just days before Ferriero, a Clinton delegate, was set to travel to Denver for the Democratic National Convention.

Ferriero could not be reached for comment to say whether his plans have changed regarding today’s events. 

Ferriero’s long-time political foe, State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck), said that she won’t take a position on whether or not Ferriero should go.

“I think that’s his decision.  I think this whole thing does cast a dark cloud over Bergen County political activities, but he is not an elected official, he hasn’t been elected to govern, and I hope whatever’s coming out of this happens quickly so that it’s over,” she said.  “The timing is not great given the upcoming election.  So I would hope that it moves quickly and he has a chance to clear his name.”

Bergen County Republican Chairman Bob Yudin today sent a letter to U.S. Attorney Chris Christie asking him to expand his probe of Bergen County officials to the operations and fee structure of the Bergen County Improvement Authority (BCIA).

Yudin pointed to County Executive Dennis McNerney’s appearance at a Glen Rock school board meeting, during which he urged members to use the BCIA to issue bonds for school expansion projects. Members of the school board, however, decided to seek the bonds on their own.

Yudin said that McNerney wanted to strong-arm the school board into accepting the bonds from the BCIA so that Bergen County Democratic Organization (BCDO) allies would stand to earn thousands of dollars in fees.

Over the last decade, Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe Ferrerio has consolidated power with help from a group of unlikely allies: The Bergen County Republican Organization.

Ferriero developed a fundraising machine and got most of his party in lock step behind him.  But bickering and internal disputes in the GOP hurt that party’s ability to provide a counterweight, as did anemic fundraising. 

Bob Yudin, who was elected as county chairman last month, hopes to change that. 

“Since the day I was elected, I have been reaching out,” said Yudin.  “In my acceptance speech and every day I reach out and try to counsel people.  We have to stop the fighting, we have to work together, and it has been effective to some degree already.” 

The Star-Ledger reports that the feds’ investigation of Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe Ferriero has expanded, with subpoenas issued to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission, where he’s chief counsel.

Two separate subpoenas were sent to the commission: one demanding all its records dealing with Ferriero’s law firm, Scarinci Hollenbeck, and one demanding records for a company Ferriero founded in 2001 called SVC consulting along with records related to the PR firm Vision Media.

In October, State Sen. Loretta Weinberg, a Ferriero rival, denounced the amount of money spent by several county agencies, including the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission, on consultants. Among the complaints about Vision Media was that a coloring book was the only evidence of its work for the commission.