Tomorrow, committee members throughout Bergen County will gather in Hackensack for the Bergen County Democratic Organization (BCDO) convention. The BCDO convention is a meeting of the county delegates to select who the BCDO will back in June's Democratic primary. Yet, at least 50 committee members will not be appearing at the convention, including nearly half of Englewood's Democratic Municipal Committee. These members charge that BCDO chairman Joe Ferriero has already picked his organization's candidates and that the convention is merely a "formality." According to a letter signed by these delegates:

It is now clear the Party has been hijacked by a few insiders who have abandoned the principles of the Democratic Party. They have turned what was once one of the most open and respected nominating processes in New Jersey into a power grab.

Also absent will be our district's three incumbents, Senator Loretta Weinberg and Assemblypersons Valerie Huttle and Gordon Johnson. Last month, Ferriero offered Senator Weinberg the BCDO's backing if she replaced running mates Johnson and Huttle with his own hand-picked candidates. Instead, Weinberg and her colleagues decided to bypass the Ferriero-controlled convention altogether and take their campaign directly to the voters in this June's Democratic primary.

In response, Ferriero has selected Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes to challenge Loretta Weinberg for her senate seat. This is the same Michael Wildes that Ferriero once considered an opponent, saying "Michael Wildes only cares about his own political ambition." The irony of this newly formed alliance was not lost on PoliticsNJ, which reported, "Until a few hours ago, Wildes has been a fervant foe of County Chairman Joseph Ferriero." So why is Wildes now seeking Joe Ferriero's backing? According to David Sivella, Wildes' political consultant:

Joe Ferriero controls the money going to Democratic candidates for county offices the way the player with the most real estate in Monopoly has all the cash come to him...the valuable real estate is Column 1 [on the ballot], the party line. He owns it, and when you land on it, if you want to be there, you have to pay a hefty price.

So what "hefty price" is Wildes willing to pay to Boss Joe Ferriero? The Englewood Report has its own theories. (Hint: it starts with "develop-" and ends in "-ment.")

Yet, with leaked poll numbers showing Weinberg with a giant 3-1 lead over Wildes, this primary battle may just turn out to be an embarrassing attempt by Boss Joe Ferriero to replace popular incumbents with his own slate of cronies.

So while the BCDO convenes in Hackensack to anoint Ferriero's picks for Senate and Assembly, Englewood will host the grand opening of the Weinberg, Johnson and Huttle campaign headquarters. And unlike Ferriero's convention, which is closed to the public, you all are invited to join your legislators at this kickoff.

The invitation, as posted on BlueJersey.com:

Weinberg, Johnson & Huttle HQ Grand Opening
posted by: carolh

Summary:
Join the Real Bergen Democrats at their new HQ Grand Opening

Description:
Please join Senator Loretta Weinberg, Assemblyman Gordon Johnson and Assemblywoman Valerie Vaineri Huttle as they kick off their Primary Campaign for re-election.

RSVP by e-mail to rsvp@realbergendemocrats.com or call 201-838-9959 including regrets. Please invite your neighbors and friends.

Where:
40 North Van Brunt St
Englewood
07631
When: 05:00 PM - 08:00 PM

This weekend, PoliticsNJ gave Mayor Michael Wildes the Roger Chugh Award for "the most extensive online ego wall."  According to Wally Edge of PoliticsNJ:

His website includes photos of himself with celebrities like Christie Brinkley, Uma Thurman, Tony Bennett, Billy Joel -- and Alan Hevesi, who resigned his post as New York State Comptroller last December as part of a plea bargain with prosecutors after he plead guilty defrauding the New York state government.

For many, publicity hounds like Michael Wildes can be uncomfortably amusing, like a hard-to-watch scene from Curb Your Enthusiasm.  Scott Shields over at BlueJersey.com posted the following picture of Wildes presenting easy-listening "legend" Michael Bolton with a key to the city at a BergenPAC performance (speaking of which, we find it rather strange that Wildes would now start attacking BergenPAC as the seat of Assemblywoman Valerie Huttle's "political fortunes" when he's used the theater so often for his celebrity photo-ops.  But that's for another blog entry...)

True, it's hard not to enjoy our mayor's snazzy plaid suit, though we must admit we are a bit disappointed to see Mr. Bolton without his famed mullet.  Yet, all of Michael Wildes' publicity-seeking would be a whole lot funnier if it didn't hurt Englewood so much.

Some of you may recall back in December of 2003 when our newly elected mayor rushed to half-conscious firefighter Michael Sternesky's hospital bedside -- with a camera.  Fire Department employee Antoinette Galluzzo had this to say in a letter to the Suburbanite: 

[Michael Wildes] wasn't very sensitive when he visited an Englewood firefighter, who was seriously injured in a house fire in December 2003, at St. Barnabus Hospital.

He conveniently showed up in a fire department sweatshirt and he just happened to have a camera handy to take a photo which he
has printed in the newspapers a week later, while the firefighter was still recuperating and facing one of the most serious times of his life. (The Suburbanite, 3/3/04)

Not very sensitive indeed.

Galluzzo's letter concludes, "I am hoping that this is not the type of behavior we will endure with Michael Wildes as our mayor."  Unfortunately, after four years of Mayor Wildes, this is just the type of behavior that typifies Wildes' tenure in office.

It was also in 2003 that Wildes posed for photo ops while visiting substandard housing on James Street in Englewood. After Latino residents complained of overly aggressive safety inspections, Wildes convened a task force to look into the matter.  Yet, when publicity died down, Wildes seemingly lost interest in enforcing proper safety protocol.  

According to one of the advisors of the task force, Wilson David Bernal, chairman of public relations for the Hispanic-American Alliance:

"We never heard anything about this after it appeared in the media.  It clearly was a political thing, an opportunity to reach out to people, and not something he knew was going somewhere. I was skeptical from the beginning." ("Englewood, N.J., Housing Task Force in Limbo," The Bergen Record, 4/13/04)

In August of 2006, the Mayor again rushed to the scene for face time with cameras after a tragic fire killed three people living in the same James Street housing in the same substandard conditions he had seen three years previously.  Zoning officer Don Porrino, who was the city's construction official at the time, told The Bergen Record that Wildes' interference with safety inspections "made conducting searches less efficient."  According to Porrino:

"Look where we are today, two dead and one who might die.  I'm blaming the mayor."

This time, we are distressed to see Wildes once again join the grisly spectacle of ambulance chasers in the tragic fire that killed a Bronx man's entire family.  Wildes has volunteered to be the man's immigration lawyer and in doing so got some excellent press coverage and television time.  What happened to the nobility of the anonymous mitzvah?  We commend good deeds, but we are troubled that Wildes consistently uses tragedies to get a few seconds of camera time.

As the saying goes, where there's smoke, there's Wildes.

This blog entry was written by Juan Melli of BlueJersey.com


This week's Englewood edition of the Suburbanite has a piece about Michael Wildes' state senate campaign (LD-37) titled "Campaign manager's claim contradicted." It refers back to a press release the campaign put out last week where his Assembly running-mate Ken Zisa praised US Attorney Christie for "treading carefully and deliberately" while trashing the presumption of innocence when he claimed "Where there's subpoenas, there's fire."

The article [pg 1, 2] points out that their press release is factually wrong, but that's not the shocker. The interesting stuff is near the end where it gets pretty funny and yet dizzying. Try to follow along.

First, Wildes plays the ignorance card, saying he knew nothing about it.

When asked about the news release, Wildes first denied having seen it [...]

I guess that's one way to run a campaign. Deny, deny, deny. But wait, then he got "confused", changed his story, and runs away from the statement.

then said he had been "confused," that he had seen it but explained that third-party staff writers had the authority to use his quotes. "I only verify my factual statements."

Way to accept responsibility there. And what the heck are "third-party staff writers"? Is that where the buck stops in this campaign? But wait, there's more. Then he completely throws the rest of his campaign team under the bus.

Wildes said if there was a question as to validity of the other information contained in the release, it would have to be taken up with the person who wrote the release.

Really classy. Anything to get elected...

On its face, this is simply a timeline of a large development project that's planned for the south side of Route 4.  Yet, the evolution of this project is also a case study in pay-to-play.

Over the last seven years, developers and their political watercarriers have been selling the benefits of this massive development complex to the residents of Englewood. They claim that the project is a win-win for everyone, promising lowered taxes, minimal traffic congestion and a cleaner environment.  But the real evidence shows that a developer can best get what he wants by currying favor with politicians who control boards and councils. "If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, it's a duck." Check out the following timeline and do your own Duck Test.

2000

Englewood officials propose a massive $500 million project to redevelop 60 acres of land on the south side of Route 4. The proposal would replace warehouses and small factories with hotels, housing units, stores and offices.

Critics cry political favoritism when the all-Democratic city council hands the project over to private developer Hekemian Kasparian Troast (HKT), which is represented by attorney and county Democratic chairman Joe Ferriero.

Business owners resist the development project, which relies on eminent domain to seize their privately owned land and sell it back to HKT at cost. Residents of Leonia and Englewood express concern over increased traffic on the already congested Route 4. (Source: The Star Ledger)

2001

Superior Court Judge Jonathan Harris halts the project, ruling that the city had failed to properly notify the public about the project's hearings. (Source: The Bergen Record)

2002

After the 60 acre proposal fails, Englewood's city council targets the same area for redevelopment once again. This time, the council votes 3-1 to rezone 30 acres of land on the south side of Rt. 4 and an additional 14 acres on its north side. According to officials, HKT will have to get land through negotiations with landowners rather than eminent domain.

Then-Councilman Michael Wildes casts the lone vote against the zoning change, calling Boss Ferriero's legal representation of HKT "inappropriate." In a prepared statement, Wildes says, "The people of Englewood should never have to question the motivations and judgment of the people who represent them." (Source: The Bergen Record)

2003
The city council votes for an ordinance that condemns gas station properties to make room for a road connecting Route 4 and another HKT development on the highway's north side. (Source: The Bergen Record)

2004

Bergen County officials appoint Englewood Councilman Doug Bern as the lawyer for the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority (BCUA).  Councilman Bern is a vocal supporter of HKT developments along Rt. 4, having voted for the 2002 rezoning ordinance and the 2003 condemnation ordinance.

Critics view Councilman Bern's new $30,000 per year contract as a quid pro quo when it's unearthed that the Northwest BCUA's chairman is none other than Michael Kasparian, president of HKT. (Source: The Bergen Record)

2005

Mayor Michael Wildes, once an opponent of the HKT project, pressures the planning board to vote on an HKT-backed change to the South of Rt. 4 development. According to the Record, the proposed deal "lifts a restriction that the developers simultaneously build office and hotel space," allowing HKT to abandon the original ordinance's call for "mixed use" development. In return, HKT agrees to build condos instead of apartments, which Wildes and the developers claim will bring in more tax revenue.

Despite protests from residents and some board members, the planning board holds a midnight vote on the deal, which wasn't placed on the agenda. Councilwoman Charlotte Bennett-Schoen criticizes the vote, saying, "I have never seen the planning board pressured the way pressure has been applied on this board." The board's chairwoman Hilary Ballon resigns, questioning whether the unannounced midnight vote had been conducted appropriately.

Mayor Wildes later admits that he met with the developers in his Manhattan offices before the vote took place.

The following month, Boss Joe Ferriero backs Michael Wildes in his bid for an open Assembly seat. Wildes loses. (Sources: The Bergen Record, PoliticsNJ)

2006

During his mayoral campaign for reelection, Mayor Wildes claims to have saved millions for Englewood taxpayers by convincing HKT to build condos instead of apartments.

2007

Once again, Mayor Wildes and his appointed Planning Board approve HKT-backed changes to the development. In a 6-1 vote, the Planning Board agrees that HKT shouldn't have to build condos after all.

The same month, Joe Ferriero backs Michael Wildes in his bid for Loretta Weinberg's Senate seat. (Source: The Bergen Record, PoliticsNJ)

Cartoon by Jimmy Margulies of The Bergen Record

Reproduced by permission.

We at the Englewood Report do our best to show up at Englewood public meetings, so we can bring you the latest in local news. But, you don't have to take our word for it. We've posted the meeting schedules of Englewood's various committees, so you can find out what's going on firsthand. Public business is being conducted on your behalf. Isn't it about time to let your voice be heard?

Visit our RESOURCE section. Or you can jump directly to the CALENDAR or LIST BY COMMITTEE.

County boss Joseph Ferriero recently sent out copies of a column to delegates of the upcoming Bergen County Democratic Organization convention. The column, entitled "For Democrats, Bergen County Spells Success," was lifted from the pages of The Rothenberg Political Report, a Washington-based, "non-partisan" newsletter. I contacted editor Stuart Rothenberg to find out if the mailing of his column should be viewed as an endorsement of Ferriero's political tactics.  The following is his response, which he has agreed to let me share with you:

Hello, Bob.

My comment wasn't meant to indicate my approval of the current political/patronage/organizational system or an endorsement of the way things in NJ work, but, rather, a criticism of the Bergen County Republican Party, with its personality and ideological in-fighting. I would have thought that by now NJ voters would have come to their senses and placed a greater importance on ethics and character, but they don't seem to care about the things you do. That's not my fault.

Folks in NJ are going to have to deal with the state's political culture. I wish them -- and you -- good luck. Personally, I think the system stinks. But I'm just a political handicapper, and I figure that the only way to change things is for reformers to fight fire with fire -- and that means more than writing letters to the letters or wringing your hands about the corruption in the state and the influence of political bosses.

Best wishes,

Stu Rothenberg

Mr. Ferriero is putting up Mr. Rothenberg's column as an endorsement. Yet, it couldn't be clearer from Mr. Rothenberg's reply to my email that he neither endorses nor approves of Joe Ferriero's pay-to-play tactics. In fact, Mr. Rothenberg is merely stating that Joe Ferriero succeeds in a system that the people of New Jersey should end.

Is that really something Boss Ferriero wants to brag about?