BCDO "Election" to Replace Ferriero

by: carolh

Thu Jan 22, 2009 at 11:06:04 PM EST

http://www.northjersey.com/ber...

According to the Record 567 people showed up.  There are over 1,100 members of the BCDO, so a quorum is at least 550.  It was a close call for the friends of Joe.  They began the "election" early but had to call every single last friend of Joe Ferriero and twist enough arms to get people there.  They actually had to extend the time to vote by a half hour.  Which tells me they were really close to not having a quorum. In fact the 30 people who showed up to vote against Kasparian, actually legitimized the election, by simply being present.  He would NOT have had enough CC members there for a quorum and Kasparian could not have won.

I know that 30 anti-Kasparian folks will be kicking themselves tomorrow.

The one new CC member I spoke to who went was furious that there wasn't even a speech by the "candidate".  He showed up to vote in a one man contest where no expense was spared plastering signs for the guy all over the room.  (Classic BCDO - campaign posters for a one man race).  He was also offended by the fact that when he arrived pro-Ferriero "goons" intimidated him at the door. He refused to wear the Kasparian sticker they were handing out at the door to the "secret" vote.  He was quite offended and upset by the undemocratic way the whole event was handled.  I could imagine it so well, I didn't even have to be there.  It wasn't a convention. It was a rubber stamp.  Kasparian was in a one man race and he couldn't even get half of the entire County Committee to support him.

What I found surprising is that we have a brand spanking new BCDO Attorney. Did you know that? Paul Kaufman was unceremoniously dumped for giving a roadmap on how to dump Ferriero. New BCDO attorney Joseph Mariniello apparently is much more Ferriero-crat friendly.

Here is a quote from the Record Article that gives a little more background on Kasparian and why he has close ties to Ferriero, and why we are not hopeful:

Kasparian is a developer who also serves as chairman of the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority and as a public officer with the New Jersey Redevelopment Authority. The name of his development company is MDK Development LLC.
Kasparian also once served as the president of Hekemian Kasparian Troast LLC, which worked on the Englewood Commons project. Ferriero served as a lawyer for HKT.

From PolitickerNJ:
http://www.politickernj.com/ma...

The item that sticks out to me in PolitickerNJ's is this:

However, he wouldn't commit to changing a system in which county employees occupy committee seats in the party, another reform measure Weinberg publicly demanded of the new chairman.

And so, all is status quo at the BCDO.  It appears that by not actually changing anything but paying lipservice to reform, they hope to re-elect Corzine.  

I got news for you.  If Corzine actually distanced himself from Joe the Indicted instead of just pretending he did, he would win a lot more support from the anti-Pay-to-Play crowd.  Making our democracy less democratic by taking our choices away in elections while not having the actual guts to sign Kasparian's campaign letter is telling.  Telling us you are still NOT SERIOUS ABOUT ETHICS REFORM.  Even when Obama's first day resulted in change at the Federal level.  

If you put action behind your words and you want our support, you will help pass the Bi-Partisan Party Democracy Act.  Because right now, our party isn't very Democratic, Governor.  And you are a good part of the reason why.