( - promoted by jmelli)
Ok, remember when I said to stay tuned regarding the BCDO and LD37? Well, here goes.
Due to pressure from Governor Jon Corzine and Congressman Steve Rothman, Loretta's team accepted the withdrawal of the Wildes Zisa Wilson team and accepted the endorsement of the BCDO - which is what they would have gotten in the first place if Ferriero hadn't played games of trying to get rid of incumbents Valerie Huttle and Gordon Johnson. The agreement brokered by the Governor was that Loretta, Valerie and Gordon would move over to the BCDO line. It should be noted that this agreement was arrived at after consultation with key Weinberg supporters such as local labor leaders and local Real Bergen Dems candidates. However, it was up to Joe Ferriero and Dennis Oury to file the proper papers to make the switch. The Weinberg team expected the forms to be ready for the press conference. They were not. When Dennis Oury and Joe Ferriero tried to file papers to get Loretta, Gordon and Valerie to switch over to their column, they sent the wrong papers. Twice. Then they missed the deadline completely. And so, due to the ineptitude of the BCDO Lawyers, the chance to switch was missed since strict rules in the Title 19 law prohibit folks from switching columns after the deadline.
Ah, but all was not as it seemed, Even though Loretta, Gordon and Valerie all bargained in good faith and agreed to go on the BCDO line, Ferriero had more in mind which he only shared a few days AFTER the press conference.
Long story short, not only did Ferriero plan on simply moving Loretta's team to his column after the Weinberg team accepted the withdrawal of Wildes, Zisa and Wilson and the endorsement of the BCDO, he planned on forcing her to get rid of the entire Real Bergen Dems column, Bergenfield and Englewood candidates included! Not even mentioned at that press conference. This explains what Joe really had up his sleeve.
Loretta and company planned Real Bergen Democrats to be a formal association with three trustees and a mission to clean up Bergen County Politics. It wasn't just a slogan to tick off The Chairman. It was created to make his life miserable by electing honest candidates against Pay-To-Play. I was at the first meetings. I know.
When the Weinberg team found out what Ferriero was trying to do a few days after the press conference, Loretta again said "NO DEAL". Weinberg Huttle and Johnson had planned from the beginning on supporting the Real Bergen Dems rest of the ticket no matter what happened. They NEVER promised to get rid of the rest of the ticket. This whole thing STARTED because Loretta couldn't throw her team under the bus. She's not about to change now.
Ferriero's buddies in this story are trying to get rid of the Real Bergen Dems line on a technicality by making a bogus argument that we have no real campaign manager. I know Brenda, I have met Brenda and I knew Brenda was the campaign manager from day one. She actually exists and everybody who came to the HQ opening met Brenda. Unless that many people can have the same hallucination, Brenda is a REAL campaign manager for the Real Bergen Democrats. Honest.
When County Clerk Kathleen Donavan chose Real Bergen Dems to be in Column 1 on the ballot, her attorney, John Carbone tried to stop the Real Bergen Dems by attempting to prove that we had no campaign manager. That is why I brought up Brenda, who is NOT imaginary. Shades of Katherine Harris anyone????
You all may remember John Carbone as a lawyer working with Oury to get our "Tenafly Five" provisional votes thrown out. John Carbone worked hard in 2005 so that Loretta Weinberg would lose the special election to Ken Zisa. He failed.
As of this writing, Loretta, Gordon and Valerie are now certified by the Attorney General to be listed on the Real Bergen Democrats line. The BCDO cannot get them on the BCDO column without a legal fight now that Ferriero and Oury missed their deadline. And believe me, the BCDO boys are trying now that according to election law, Wildes, Zisa and Wilson are history.
Real Bergen Democrat Lawyers are now going to court THIS MONDAY to prove that Brenda exists and has existed from the very start as the Real Bergen Dems campaign manager. Ferriero's lawyers are trying to throw out the Real Bergen Dems entire slate by saying that Brenda doesn't exist. They are contending that the county candidates on the Real Bergen Dems line don't have a campaign manager and that they therefore cannot be bracketed together and therefore must disband instead of landing on Column 1 in the Primary. Which of course, I know is total bull pucky since I was in the meetings at Bergen Dems HQ BEFORE the grand opening even took place, and know that Brenda was our campaign manager for the Real Bergen Dems.
And so as a source close to the campaign told me "The question is whether a court will allow this switch in opposition to Title 19 law when there is no dire need or emergency reason to do so. These questions remain on the table and unresolved."
And so unless a judge barges in and FORCES Loretta, Valerie and Gordon to DISBAND the entire Real Bergen Dems slate which filed all the proper paperwork, Loretta, Valerie and Gordon will head up Column 1 of the Real Bergen Democrats line including local candidates: WW II veteran Timothy Driscoll of Bergenfield, Charlotte Bennett Schoen of Englewood, and own own Michael Lattif.
Irony of ironies. Joe Ferriero, he of the arbitrary unreasonable and capricious "Lets throw them off the column and see how they do" tactic - the very guy who appears to have INVENTED it, finds his candidates in Column 2 without the top three positions.
Aw. I'd feel for you Joe. But I just can't reach that far.
Below, see the deadlines involved: |
