Leo McGuire

Bergen County is apparently immune from the "change" bug that has swept the rest of the nation.

Not even a federal investigation and eight-count indictment could convince Bergen County Democrats to dump their long-time corrupt leader Joe Ferriero. Note how three Democrats responded to calls from other elected officials for their chairman to step down:

"Steve Rothman ought to know better...he knows the constitutional presumption of innocence." -Freeholder David Ganz

"Everybody's presumed innocent..." -Surrogate Michael Dressler

"We all have the presumption of innocence..." -Sheriff Leo McGuire

If this were college, they'd be expelled for plagiarism, but in Ferriero's Bergen County that kind of lemming-like ability to follow orders is demanded and rewarded. It's embarrassing to see these supposedly grown men get played like fiddles by the state's new poster boy for corruption, but they've been doing it for so long they don't know anything else.

Bergen County Democratic leaders are meeting at their party headquarters in Hackensack this morning to discuss the fate of County Chairman Joseph Ferriero, who was indicted on federal corruption charges last Tuesday.  So far, the party seems divided on Ferriero's fate: Gov. Jon Corzine, U.S. Rep. Steven Rothman, Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan and State Sen.

Bergen County Democrats will meet today to discuss Joe Ferriero's political future.
Three top Bergen County Democratic officials -- Sheriff Leo McGuire, Surrogate Michael Dressler and Freeholder David Ganz -- are standing with indicted party chairman Joseph Ferriero, saying there is no reason for him to resign as County Chairman.  Gov. Jon Corzine, U.S. Rep. Steven Rothman (D-Fair Lawn), Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan, and State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) have already said Ferriero should resign.

Ferriero, who has taken a leave of absence from his post, was indicted last week on federal fraud charges.  His partner in a firm that helped local governments obtain grants, Dennis Oury, was also named in the same indictment.  

McGuire confirmed that a group of Democratic leaders will meet tomorrow to discuss Ferriero's status.  "I’m not sure who’s meeting tomorrow, but I think it will be larger than five or six," McGuire told PolitickerNJ.com.

When Joseph Ferriero wrestled the county chairmanship from Gerald Calabrese in June 1998, Bergen County Republicans had a 7-0 majority on the Board of Freeholders, and Republicans in the offices of County Executive, County Clerk, and Sheriff.  The only countywide Democratic official was Michael Dressler, who had won election as Surrogate in 1996.  Republicans held three of the five State Senate seats, and eight of ten State Assembly seats that included parts of Bergen County.

In a campaign largely engineered through Ferriero's strategic and fundraising skills, Democrats scored an upset victory in November '98.  Joseph Ciccone ousted GOP Acting Sheriff Jay Alpert, and Dennis McNerney and Douglas Bern were elected Freeholder.  (Barbara Chadwick, a Freeholder for twenty years, was re-elected, as was County Executive William "Pat" Schuber, who defeated Assemblywoman Loretta Weinberg, and County Clerk Kathleen Donovan.)  Ciccone gave Ferriero some of the patronage he needed to build a county organization. And the Freeholder Board moved from 7-0 to 5-2.

Some Democratic insiders suggest that one casualty of yesterday's indictments of Joseph Ferriero and Dennis Oury will be Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney, who has always been more popular with Ferriero than with local Democratic party leaders.  McNerney has two years left in his second term, and there's a good chance, sources say, that the post-Ferriero Bergen County Democratic Organization will seek a new candidate for County Executive in 2010.

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.