Meet the New Boss - Same as the Old Boss

Absolutely right (4.00 / 2)

Fight on ground you can win.  This vote was worth boycotting, until a rule is passed that you cannot have a county job and also vote on county committee.  Furthermore, a rule is needed that ALL county committee members must be elected, so that chairs cannot appoint extra people who the voters did not elect.

As far as I'm concerned the focus should now be on those reforms instead of trying to cooperate with a broken system.

If this vote was conducted by the Democratic voters of Bergen County the result would be a lot different.  

That being said, there are multiple strategies to deal with what is a bad situation and I'm sure others feel their way is good.  There are some people in politics who refuse to abstain or be absent to deny a quorum; thinking it ignoble.    I think it depends on the situation and how one feels the deck is stacked.  

---

by: CouncilmanBruceCarlson @ Mon Jan 26, 2009 at 15:33:34 PM UTC

one nit-pick (0.00 / 0)

Furthermore, a rule is needed that ALL county committee members must be elected, so that chairs cannot appoint extra people who the voters did not elect.

Technically, these seats are filled by a majority vote of the County Committee members from the town in question, and I don't think that should be changed. The problem, as I see it, is that the Municipal Chairman and the local "inner circle" tend to be the only ones who know that vacancies exist, so they show up at the meeting with their list of hand-picked nominees and the Committee members, lacking any other choices, rubber-stamp it.
It would be helpful if one could retrieve the list of Committee members AND vacant seats on the internet someplace.  

---

by: Bill W @ Mon Jan 26, 2009 at 19:36:22 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

That is exactly why (0.00 / 0)

usually it is a municipal chair that gets a patronage job.  Witness Lynne Hurwitz, head cheerleader for Joe, County Employee, - her husband works for a Utilities Authority, and she is municipal Chair in Hackensack.  Her Hackensack flunkies were responsible for the parliamentary maneuvers that denied District 37 BCDO members the right and the ability to even discuss getting rid of Joe at the District 37 meeting I wrote about previously.  

One Vote.  Yours.  It really does matter.

---

by: carolh @ Mon Jan 26, 2009 at 21:16:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

i was describing the realpolitik (0.00 / 0)

rather than the technicalities.    

---

by: CouncilmanBruceCarlson @ Tue Jan 27, 2009 at 14:09:31 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yes, but... (0.00 / 0)

...you offered a solution that I think is not necessary. When you wrote:

Furthermore, a rule is needed that ALL county committee members must be elected, so that chairs cannot appoint extra people who the voters did not elect.

I took that to mean that only individuals elected by the voters would be eligible to serve on the County Committee, meaning that districts with no candidates on election day, or districts whose Committee Member give up their seats between elections would remain vacant until the next election. I'd rather see the current rule remain in place, so that the existing Committee Members from any given municipality can elect members to fill vacant seats, but perhaps add a notification rule requiring the Municipal Chair to provide written notice of vacancies to the membership with sufficient time to recruit challengers to the nominees of the Chair.
I haven't checked, but I wouldn't be surprised if what I'm suggesting is already required by the BCDO bylaws.  And that's what drives me nuts about this whole business -- put aside making radical changes in the rules; we'd be in such a better position if we could just get everyone to follow the rules that exist now. And no, I don't know how to make that happen. But it needs to happen, because adding new rules isn't going to help much if they're not going to be followed.

---

by: Bill W @ Tue Jan 27, 2009 at 16:36:12 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

In theory we shouldn't need (4.00 / 1)

such radical change. But Bergen County Democratic politics for the moment are not theory.   In practice chairs control a great deal by flouting rules.  The bylaws you cite if they exist are not being followed and no force exists to make them happen.  In fact there is every incentive not to follow rules like that.  And incentive to discourage participation and involvement - no candidate, the chair (through committee) can appoint.

Give me good enforcement, I'll tone down the call for radical change.  Right now I don't see it.

I also think you need state rules rather than BCDO bylaws which are not followed.  The Democratic Party is not a private little club.  It performs a state regulated function of nominating candidates.

It is also better to set the bar higher with a rule -a rule with teeth 'must be elected' vs. a minor one 'must notice the committee'  the one cannot be violated, no wiggle rooom. The other will be flouted.

 

---

by: CouncilmanBruceCarlson @ Wed Jan 28, 2009 at 20:32:16 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

The Party Democracy Act (0.00 / 0)

is a Bi-Partisan bill by Loretta Weinberg and Diane Allen. It would be the state-wide change we need to do what Councilman Carlson suggests.

One Vote.  Yours.  It really does matter.

---

by: carolh @ Thu Jan 29, 2009 at 00:16:21 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Excellent Summary And Clarification (0.00 / 0)

Thanks again Carol   Here's a link to Kelly's column for those that haven't read it.    http://www.northjersey.com/new...  The article is very telling in that we have Corzine's office, essentially, calling Dressel a liar.   At this point, I believe Buzzy is telling the truth and that he should go public with the name of the person who pressed him to drop out of the race.

But incredibly, this story gets weirder.

Richard "Buddy" Dressel, an electrical union chief who lives in Montvale, says he considered running against Kasparian. But only days before the party voted, Dressel dropped out - claiming, at the time, that he felt Kasparian was a "clone" of Ferriero and had garnered plenty of votes.

Now Dressel is telling a different story. In an interview with this columnist, Dressel says he received a telephone call only days before the party vote from "someone associated" with Governor Corzine, who urged him to step aside and allow for the uncontested election "in the interest of party harmony."

Dressel won't identify the caller, and Corzine's office said the governor played no role in the election of the chairman of the Bergen Democrats. "The selection of the chairman is a local party issue," said Corzine spokesman Sean Darcy.

If Corzine had allowed the Ferriero BCDO to get it's political ass kicked in 2007 instead of intervening to "make peace" we wouldn't be where we are now....and, ironically, Joe Ferriero wouldn't be facing a federal criminal indictment.  

If anyone doubts that Corzine get's involved with BCDO politics here's some evidence to the contrary (you have to click to get past the fuzzy first frame)....

---

by: Nick Lento @ Mon Jan 26, 2009 at 22:19:49 PM UTC

It wasn't the Governor's office. (0.00 / 0)

It was the Governor's campaign that interfered.


One Vote.  Yours.  It really does matter.

---

by: carolh @ Tue Jan 27, 2009 at 04:01:05 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

A very sad day documented (4.00 / 2)

Bless that little gadget of yours.

Right move for Loretta given the circumstances, bad move for Corzine.  

Corzine could make up for it by using his Wilson-like potential to pass Loretta's reforms.

---

by: CouncilmanBruceCarlson @ Tue Jan 27, 2009 at 14:17:27 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yes, Loretta Did What She Had To Do.... (0.00 / 0)

....at the time.

She trusted Governor Corzine.   You can see that he was, literally, holding her hand and reassuring her with (what appeared to be) kind and sincere gestures.   Governor Corzine even convinced me that day that this compromise was ugly but necessary; I even held my tongue and didn't aggressively follow up when Joe Ferriero gave me a bunch of self serving bullshit in response to my question on pay to play.   Tom Moran and Oshrat Carmiel did try to follow up a  bit; but it seems that they too didn't have the heart to truly grill Ferriero on the pay to play issue.

Bottom line: Either Buzzie or Corzine is being less than truthful here....and it's the progressive reform agenda that is taking a beating.   Corzine still seems to be suffering under the delusion that sucking up to machine pay to play politics is the only way to get elected in NJ.    That is a mistake.....especially in these times when people are REALLY going to be paying attention.......more to come on this as the comment field is to small to say what I have to say on these matters.

---

by: Nick Lento @ Tue Jan 27, 2009 at 18:32:14 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

New Charlie Stile column suggests Kasparian drop-kick Joe ASAP (0.00 / 0)

http://www.northjersey.com/new...

---

by: denniscmcgrath @ Wed Jan 28, 2009 at 13:16:20 PM UTC