Any American who enjoys, but no longer believes in, Santa Claus understands the difference between political marketing and reality.  We know we're getting played, but the PR, spin, talking points, symbols (flag lapel pins, etc) bypass our rationality and hit our hot buttons.

Now that we have suffered many months of the "silly season" in national politics, our own primary season is revving up in New Jersey. And, as usual, the marketing tells one story and the reality another. 

One prominent political marketing myth is that ambitious politicians can only do well for themselves by doing well for the public.  But, the New Jersey reality is quite different. 

The state political system favors those who do the business of the pay-to-play County Party Boss -- the man who controls the path of political advancement. With aggressive marketing and huge campaign financing, the behind-the-scenes record of these politicians can get camouflaged in photo ops, spin, concocted narratives, talking points and all the usual symbols and stuff of "silly season."  County Bosses and their smiley-faced marketers know that they just have to fool enough of the people enough of the time to keep the money and power rolling in.

In fact, reality caught up with marketing for all of Joe Ferriero's current slate of Bergen County Democratic Organization freeholder candidates.  Each was voted out of office in their own towns by local voters who know them best.

Bernadette McPherson is seeking another Freeholder term, right after her hometown constituents in Rutherford ousted her as Mayor in a greater than 2-1 landslide. Vernon Walton was turned out of his Englewood Council seat by 20 percentage points but was appointed by the Boss to complete Connie Wagner's unfinished term as Freeholder. Similarly, incumbent David Ganz seeks re-election to county office after having lost in Fair Lawn.

So, how can a Party Boss convert local losers into County winners? 

Quoting David Sivella, the Mayor Michael Wildes' 2006 campaign manager:

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.

The "hefty price" a politician must pay to the Boss comes from our public treasury (patronage, tax deals and no-bid contracts to the Boss and his "friends") and on our quality of life (favors, permits, variances, etc for political, not public, reasons). Data released by the NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission "...show that 669 firms that gave $15 million in political contributions received $5.17 billion in contracts from all levels of government. That's a return of $345 for every dollar donated."  (Asbury Park Press, April 17. 2008) 

Financing the Boss's political machine returns 34,500% on investment.   That's quite an incentive. 

Next time:  The Englewood Primary...it's silly season right here in our city.

We commented last month about the return of the two party system to Englewood, not Republicans vs. Democrats, but two factions of the Democratic Party which have now become so formalized as to resemble separate parties. Among our elected officials, Mayor Wildes and Councilmember Drakeford are in one faction, working hand in glove with Bergen County Democratic boss Joe Ferriero. Councilmembers Johnson, Rosenzweig, Schoen and Reddin are in the other faction, allied with State Senator Loretta Weinberg in opposition to Ferriero and calling themselves Real Bergen Democrats. A majority of the 28 Democratic County Committee members in Englewood are aligned with Real Bergen Democrats.

Intraparty contests take place in primary elections, which are held in June in New Jersey, and where the voter turnout is normally much smaller than in November general elections. On June 3, 2008, for the sixth year in a row, the two factions in Englewood are confronting each other, this time for the City Council seats in the First and Third Wards, and for all of the County Committee positions. Councilmembers are elected for three years, and County Committee members for two years.

In the First Ward, incumbent Councilman Ken Rosenzweig is being challenged by Wildes’ paid executive assistant, Anita Sniderman. Rosenzweig was first elected three years ago, unseating long-time Councilman Doug Bern. The key issue was Bern’s close association with Ferriero. Rosenzweig has opposed Wildes on a number of matters, notably a decision by the Wildes-controlled Planning Board in favor of the developer of the major project now being built south of Route 4, and Wildes is clearly seeking to retaliate. Rosenzweig currently serves as City Council President. Sniderman is a long-time Englewood resident who has never previously sought office.

In the Third Ward, incumbent Scott Reddin is being challenged by newcomer Roosevelt Jean. Reddin, now serving his second term, has devoted considerable attention to the concerns of his constituents, and has stood up to improper political pressures. His independence is seen as a threat by the County machine, and this is the second time an opponent has been recruited to run against him. Jean, a member of a Hackensack law firm, registered to vote for the first time in Englewood in December, 2006.

The position of County Democratic Chair Ferriero depends on his election by the more than 1000 Democratic County Committee men and women throughout the County. Those Committee members are elected by the Democratic voters in their respective election districts every two years. Real Bergen Democrats this year are mounting a campaign to elect persons on June 3 who are not beholden to Ferriero and will vote to replace him. In Englewood, we have 14 election districts, each of which chooses a man and a woman to represent them. Listed below are the candidates who have filed petitions to run in each district (asterisk indicates Real Bergen Democrat):

First Ward - District 1        
Warren E. Neumann
*Wallace Reid
Anita Sniderman
*Sandra Slipp

First Ward - District 2
Bruce Kane
*Marc Forman
*Lorraine Cohen
Rochelle Kane

First Ward - District 3
*Horace A. Ragbir
Timothy Wedeen
Christine Kavanagh
*Nelida Bobe

First Ward - District 4        
David Martinez
*Charles Cobb
Rhonda Harris
*Lillian Scales

Second Ward - District 1    
Elliot Shulman
Nina Mare Nanasi

Second Ward - District 2    
Frederick Horowitz
*Michael K. Eidman
*Charlotte Bennett Schoen
Arlene Saphier-Horowitz

Second Ward - District 3    
Michael Cohen
*Realf Schermer
Danielle Cohen

Third Ward - District 1        
*Walter Young
Jeffrey Cherry
*Violet D. Cherry
Martha Aguilera

Third Ward - District 2        
William A. Goodman
*Daniel Daniel
Barbara Barrett
*Shirley Green

Third Ward - District 3        
Larry D. Christmas
*Eugene Skurnick
*Sondra Greenberg
Sharon L. Christmas

Third Ward - District 4        
*Gene A. Backous
Karen R. Perry
*Morriseen S. Barmore

Fourth Ward - District 1    
Derek Boone
Alva Jones

Fourth Ward - District 2    
Jerald W. Chambers
Rickie L. Taylor
*Eric A. Potter Sr.
*Theresa Thomas
Louise Northern

Fourth Ward - District 3    
Curtis E. Caviness
Ila Satterfield

The Englewood Report urges its readers to vote in the June 3 Democratic Primary, and to support the Real Bergen Democrat Council and County Committee candidates.

On Wednesday, May 7, the Englewood Historical Society is sponsoring a presentation by prominent local historian and former Englewood resident Robert Griffin about the extraordinary life of William Walter Phelps. Phelps, who lived from 1839 to 1894, and was the son of a successful New York City financier, settled in Teaneck after the Civil War. He renovated an old farmhouse into one of the most beautiful and celebrated mansions of the era. He acquired substantial acreage which was devoted to the planting and growing of as many as 600,000 trees. He also served four terms as a New Jersey congressman, was appointed ambassador to Austria-Hungary, and later to Germany, and was an art collector. The Teaneck mansion was unfortunately destroyed by fire in 1888. The gatehouse in Mackay Park where our Recreation Department is located is the last remnant of his massive estate, which encompassed half of modern-day Teaneck and much of Englewood at the time of his death.

Griffin, now resident in Pennsylvania, is a professional genealogist, and was prominent in Bergen County historic circles for many years. His informative and well-researched historic presentations were popular during his residence here. The meeting will start at 7:30 PM in the Mackay Room of the Englewood Public Library.

We at The Englewood Report have been entertained by the furor among Bergen County Democrats last week, as reported in The Record and elsewhere, caused by the entrance of well-regarded Camden County Congressman Rob Andrews to the Senatorial Primary. Incumbent Senator Frank Lautenberg, although 84 years old and presumably vulnerable because of his age, had been unopposed until Andrews’ announcement. Bergen County Democratic boss Joe Ferriero, no lover of Lautenberg, scented an opportunity to ingratiate himself with a rising star in the Party, and seriously considered reversing his previous endorsement of the Senator. Enter Ninth District Congressman Steve Rothman, who has his own eye on Lautenberg’s seat but is willing to wait. Rothman informed Ferriero that, if the boss backed Andrews, Rothman would back anti-Ferriero candidates at every level from Freeholder down to local county committee, and potentially break Ferriero’s domination. Ferriero has now backed down and renewed his support for Lautenberg.

An amusing sidelight is that, while Ferriero was still weighing his options, Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes volunteered to enter the Primary to be listed on the ballot under Andrews as a candidate for Rothman’s Congressional seat. Wildes’ aspiration to move into the big leagues politically has been palpable for some time. He has allied himself with Ferriero in an effort to further his career, but it is not clear that their objectives are compatible. There are voters in Englewood who would be happy for him to move on and out, but they shouldn’t hold their breath.

As we are reminded daily by the media, the nationwide housing market is in a decline, both in terms of the amount of new construction and in terms of housing prices. This is also the case in Englewood, where the intense pressure we have seen for new construction and for more dense development in existing residential areas appears to have eased for the time being. Englewood has been through an unfortunate period over the last decade when far too many important decisions were made more for the benefit of well-heeled and politically influential developers than for the benefit of the community as a whole. As we emerge from this period it is important that we better define and understand what in fact we want for our community. We need time to absorb the implications of projects recently completed or under construction. And we need more emphasis on preserving and protecting the valuable physical assets we have and less emphasis on adding to them.

There is much which differentiates Englewood from our neighboring suburban communities, from the economic and ethnic diversity of our population to our lively politics. But one feature which is of special value is the character of our attractive tree-lined and well maintained residential neighborhoods, which clearly have been in existence for a while. Englewood was one of the first communities in Bergen County to be settled, and has to this day far more officially designated historic buildings. Our unique situation, convenient to Manhattan but attractively suburban, has for a century and a half attracted prominent persons and less prominent persons to build or acquire distinctive residences within our borders, and to create a community which also includes distinctive public buildings.

In its 2003 updating of Englewood’s Master Plan, the Planning Board included an entire section on Historic Preservation. To quote from this section:

Englewood has a special feeling, a distinctive sense of place that residents and visitors alike associate with the city’s historical architecture and landscapes... the Master Plan attaches a high priority to the preservation and protection of the city’s historic heritage.

The Plan recommends the establishment of a Historic Preservation Commission, which "through a community outreach, should enlist property owners both individually and in areas with historical significance...to enroll as designated properties and historic preservation districts." Efforts would be made and incentives established to discourage the demolition of specified historic structures.

As the housing market recovers, it is likely that the intense pressure on our residential neighborhoods from developers of townhouses, multiple dwellings, and inappropriately large or incompatible single-family dwellings will resume. The City Council, the Planning Board and the Board of Adjustment should be aware of this and protect us to the extent it is legally possible. Creation of a Historic Preservation Commission as recommended by the Planning Board in 2003 (and rerecommended in 2007) would provide additional evidence of the value we place on our special character.