Following the 2007 Primary Election in Englewood, I wrote a piece entitled "Wildes Star No Longer Rising." Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes, whose ambition for higher office has been no secret, had undergone a series of political setbacks, capped by the inability of his handpicked City Council candidate, Planning Board Chair Marvin Anhalt, to win the Primary in Wildes' own Second Ward. In the year since, Wildes has fared little better. In April, as Democratic County Chair Joe Ferriero briefly flirted with endorsing Rob Andrews against Senator Frank Lautenberg in this year's Primary, Wildes unsuccessfully attempted to gain Ferriero's endorsement to run in Andrews' column against Congressman Steve Rothman. And, more recently, Wildes-backed City Council candidates in the First and Third Wards were decisively defeated despite unprecedented levels of spending on their campaigns.

Wildes' unabashed narcissism, his excessive and unrealistic ambition, and his inability to gain the respect of his Council colleagues, were initially more pitiable than otherwise. But after five years as Second Ward Councilman and four and a half years as Mayor, his self-focused behavior has become increasingly harmful to the City and embarrassing to its residents. His ability as Mayor to influence City Council actions is now minimal in the face a 4-1 veto-proof majority of non-supporters. But Englewood's City Charter gives the Mayor significant appointive powers, which Wildes has notably used on the Planning Board.

The Planning Board has in fact become his power base, giving him leverage in dealing with County boss Ferriero. Both Wildes and Ferriero have consistently displayed a cynical willingness to sacrifice the interests of the public to those of developers who make political contributions to them. In a front page headline story on June 1 The Record charged, in considerable detail, that Wildes had packed our Planning Board with contributors and friends, including developers. In a later editorial The Record pointed out that, although not illegal, such behavior "raises questions about the mayor's sphere of influence and the planning board's objectivity and credibility." We agree.

Wildes has twice, in 2003 and 2006, run unopposed in the Democratic Primary for mayor. His high visibility and his financial resources generated a sense of inevitability among potential opponents. Now, however, that his ties to Ferriero and his misuse of the Planning Board have become evident, there should be no such sense. The fate of his anointed Council candidates in the 2007 and 2008 Primaries indicates that he is vulnerable to opposition in the 2009 Primary. Whether Wildes chooses to run again or not, this newsletter hopes that one or more qualified and unbought candidates to replace him will surface soon.

In a prepared statement, former Councilman Gene Skurnick cited the recent articles in the Record and the Suburbanite, accusing Mayor Michael Wildes and certain Englewood Planning Board members of having financial relationships amongst themselves and with lawyers and applicants before the board. Skurnick also cited the recent attempt by Mayor Wildes to allow the  Route 4 developer, whose attorney was Joe Ferriero, to reduce their taxes after Wildes had been selected to run for the state senate on Ferriero's BCDO line. The former Councilman also noted reports that most of the Planning Board had failed to take a state mandated certified course.
 
Skurnick requested that the council use its investigative and subpoena power to investigate Mayor Wildes and certain members of the Planning Board.
 
Skurnick went on to note the recent revelation of a "phantom tax abatement deal" with the Town Centre developers and that Town Centre had previously and mysteriously had an extra story built. He also called for an investigation of these matters as well as the actions of former City Manager Bob Benecke which Skurnick thinks might have been illegal.

In the June 3 Democratic Primary Election, incumbent Englewood City Council members Ken Rosenzweig and Scott Reddin handily survived well-financed challenges from candidates backed by the Ferriero-led Democratic County machine. The machine only needed to take one of these seats, in the First or Third Wards, to empower Mayor Michael Wildes. His veto of Council actions can be overridden by four of five votes, but not by three of five. (The Council did in fact, on June 5, override two of his vetoes, which had been issued and publicized before the Primary.) The election numbers were: in Ward 1 - Rosenzweig 433, Sniderman 253; in Ward 3 - Reddin 509, Jean 280. 

An interesting sidelight was the election of Dr. Earl Marsan with 72 write-in votes in District 1 of the First Ward. Votes for the incumbent, Wallace Reid, whose name appeared on the ballot despite his recent death, had been ruled invalid.

On June 9, the 28 Englewood Democratic Municipal Committee members elected their new Chairperson, Dierdre Glenn Paul, by a close margin. Dr. Paul was a candidate in last year's Fourth Ward Council election and is one of the writers and editors of The Englewood Report.

As well, on June 3, there were many contests for seats on the Bergen County Democratic Committee chaired by Joe Ferriero. On June 10,  Ferriero handily gained the votes of a majority of the 1100 county committee members who had been elected June 3 and, thereby, retained his position at the head of the BCDO for two years despite spirited opposition.

Dierdre Glenn Paul's comments to the Englewood Democratic Municipal Committee prior to her election:

I would like to commence this evening by stating that I am truly honored to have been considered for this nomination as Chairperson of the Englewood Democratic Municipal Committee.  Many of you know that I have run for office before and that I care deeply about our City, our people and our Party.

I'd like to give you just a short summary of my experience leading organizations:

I am the President of a multi-racial and complex higher education Union with approximately 800 members including faculty, professional staff, and librarians. I also hold the office of Executive Vice President of the Council of New Jersey State College Locals with about 8,000 union members at nine State colleges and universities throughout New Jersey. I represent my constituencies in collective bargaining, advocate for them on all work-related issues, and serve as the public face of the Union. I am also the first African American female to hold either office.

I am here to learn from you as well as to lend my organizational and adminstrative experience to what we all want to accomplish for our Party. After all, the Republicans aren't just going to lay down for us this November. In that spirit, I want to share my goals with you:

1. I want to ensure that Barack Obama, our Democratic Presidential nominee, is elected to the White House in the Fall. Senator Obama has taken a stand for change that is long overdue at all levels of government -- national, state and municipal. He has already insisted on the elimination of money from special, vested interests both in his campaign and in the Democratic National Committee. Mr. Obama has taken a stand for the principles of sound and ethical government and transparency. We should do no less.

2. I would like to continue the strong and honorable legacy of the Englewood Democratic Municipal Committee as independent and forward thinking,

3. I want to make certain that all segments of the Committee play an essential role in increasing voter registration and campaign finance reform throughout the City of Englewood.

4. I want to help recruit good candidates to run for public office and make sure they get the support they deserve.

If elected to office, I will pledge to:
1. Adhere to the Constitution and Bylaws of the Englewood Democratic Municipal Committee.
2. Ensure that meetings are run in an effective and respectful manner.
3. Initiate an audit of the Englewood Democratic Municipal Committee's financial records and help to establish fiscal objectives for the organization.
4. Initiate meetings with each respective Ward Committee and assist them in creating action plans for the November 2008 election.
5. Increase the number of new voters registered to the Democratic Party in Englewood.
6. Ensure that Committee members have consistent access to the Committee Chairperson and work to establish a relationship based upon a foundation of trust and equity with each, individual Committee member.

I truly appreciate your consideration of me and hope that we can work together energetically and effectively.

This is a continuation to my earlier post describing New Jersey's revolutionary war history. The goal of my recounting is to deepen our understanding and so respect for Englewood and New Jersey.

At the outbreak of the war, many American colonists favoring independence believed their fight for independence would be a short one. Poorly versed in British politics, pro-independence colonists misread England's tenacity. England had little stomach for another North American military campaign, so the American thinking went, after the 1754-63 French and Indian War. On the contrary, England was in no mood to let its American colonies slip away, with its barely tapped natural resources, as well as its colonists, who were a captive market for British products. Moreover, it had spent a fortune defending its North American  colonies during the French and Indian war, and expected its grateful American subjects to pay its fair share of this war debt [thus the stamp act and tea tax, which it turns out raised more hell than income].

The events of the summer and fall 1776 quashed the rebels' hopes for a quick war. England responded to the American Declaration of Independence by sending a massive naval and ground force into New York harbor. As any seasoned military officer would have expected, within weeks, George Washington's [who was not then a veteran commander] Continental Army was torn to pieces and routed from New York. The city, its superb port, and the strategic Hudson River all fell into England's, hands, where they remained for much of the war [Staten Island never being given up by the British]. The British were ecstatic, for their plan to split the American colonies in two was starting to tale hold: with New York harbor under English control, the Hudson River could be effectively manipulated as a Berlin wall of sorts, partitioning New England off from the mid-Atlantic and southern colonies.

None of this course of events boded well for New Jersey. Its residents needed look no further than across the Hudson to see well-fortified, enemy territory. Likewise for the British forces, they could plainly see New Jersey, and what they saw, with its expansive cultivated farm and ranch lands, was a ready food-source for its 40,000+ man force. This precious resource of food was not the only cause of misfortune for New Jersey during the revolutionary war. Washington and his command learned many a bitter lesson from their "sharp" encounters with the British in New York. At the early stages of the war, Washington, while not a seasoned officer, did show he could learn from his mistakes. He knew his forces were pitifully weak in comparison to his adversaries', and they would remain outgunned for years. Before the Americans could ever hope to defeat the British, they would first have to learn to survive and, in other words, devise a plan to avoid slaughter.

So, Washington reasoned, the fight for independence would have to become what our parents' generation would call a guerrilla war: a war of attrition. The historian Thomas Fleming judged this decision by Washington a "stroke of strategic genius."

Washington's successful execution of his war of attrition strategy was dependent on New Jersey's natural landscape. Western New Jersey's uneven terrain, dense forests, and broad rivers let Washington's army avoid being drawn into the open. Had the Americans been caught in the open, they may well have sustained a war-ending defeat. But, to Washington's great credit, they never were.

The Americans were always able to stay just ever so slightly out of reach of a large British force. New Jerseyians should feel great pride in knowing that it was their state, with its rugged landscape, that aided Washington's army, letting it carry out a near-continuous assault on the British through small-scale skirmishes. These hit and run battles -- ambushes, really -- seriously demoralized the British. Their effect tended to sequester British troops in cramped, fortified camps. This in turn led to outbreaks of cholera and other maladies at the camps. It also put stress on the troops' mental health: when the British ventured outside of their camps, every stranger -- whether professed loyalist or rebel -- was viewed with nervous suspicion.

Over time, Washington's early-war strategy was successful: the British never could exploit New Jersey as they did New York. New Jersey's farms never functioned as a reliable food-source for British troops. They were instead left no choice but to import food via a trans-Atlantic system of naval shipments. And these were at the mercy of the caprices of nature and looting by French and rebel privateers.

But while Washington's strategy was ultimately a success, it didn't happen overnight. it occurred gradually, and as it slowly achieved its results, the British attitude toward new jersey's inhabitants likewise turned. At the war's outbreak, most New Jersyians were still given privileges of loyal subjects by the British. Over time, these courtesies became rare. IF not stolen outright, crops were burned, and livestock slaughtered. Women were ravished, men hung, or forced into military service. And it was not only the British that made life hard on New Jerseyians. Rebel forces were also vengeful, and just as desperate for food, water, shelter; and rum.

Intensifying the effects of a drawn-out war of attrition was New Jersey's status as "neutral ground" throughout the long war. Unlike New York City, New Jersey was never under full control of any armed force. As a result, any unsubstantiated report of daytime bartering with the enemy could unleash a night time retribution. A long-held grudge, or envy of neighbor's productive wheat field, could spur a claim of treason. Nicholas Collin's eyewitness account paints a dark picture: "Everywhere distrust, fear, hatred, and abominable selfishness…Parents and children, brothers and sisters, wife and husband were enemies of one another."

Moreover, Massachusetts and Virginia's pro-independence radicalism did not exist in New Jersey. Its population was far from a single pro-independence group; certainly not the pacifist Quakers. The cumulative effect resulted in a fearful twilight zone of an often emotionally fragile military and civilian society.

The more dispassionate among us today might respond to this ordeal by saying, "yes, early New Jerseyians did suffer through what can accurately be called America's first civil war, but was it worth my owing them some debt of honor? Wasn't it just a human-caused disaster of no lasting purpose?" My response to such a statement is two-fold. The first is that we, the people of modern New Jersey have been so fortunate for so long a time, that our natural ability to grasp that at pivotal points in history, our individual fortunes, and indeed, our lives, must be placed at disposal to a larger, common purpose.

Of course, only a fool would relish going into battle. But revolutionary war New Jerseyians did this repeatedly. In fact, New Jersey by far saw more fighting than any of the other thirteen rebellious colonies. New Jersey was the main theater of the our long war for independence. In this sense, it can justly be called the crucible of American democracy.

And this claim brings me to my second response. Whatever one's political position was during the American Revolution, everyone—Briton, American, Hessian, Frenchman—added in some way to a renaissance of democratic government. At the time of the revolution, only one other place on earth—the Swiss Confederation—was governed by self-rule. The very idea itself seemed somewhat implausible to the framers of the constitution. And while the ideals set down in the American constitution are still far from being put into practice, its ideas serve as a noble goal, worthy of great sacrifice by centuries of Americans.

To end this post, I would like to relate one event from New Jersey's revolutionary war history close to home. In  Fall 1776, after the surrender of Fort Washington and New York City to the British, Washington and his army retreated to the Bergen County area of New Jersey. Washington had real concerns that the British would next cross the Hudson river and attack the American Ft. Lee. His concerns proved right. On 20 November 1776 English and German mercenary forces, under the command of Lord Charles Cornwallis, landed at the base of the Palisade escarpment. Historical records show the troops disembarked at Huyler's Landing, near the present day town of Closter.

Fortunately for the rebels, Washington, while at his camp near the village of Hackensack, received news of the British landing. He ordered an immediate evacuation of Fort Lee (he knew after the rapid fall of Fort Washington that Fort Lee could not be held). Orders were dispatched to Fort Lee troops to march northward along the King's Highway -- what is now Grand Avenue -- and rendezvous with Washington in Englewood.

Washington joined the Fort Lee troops, and began a march along what is our present day Liberty Road. A route that started in Englewood and eventually ended in Trenton, and the fateful American victory against the British (Germans mercenaries actually) on December 26, 1776. As was -- unbelievably -- often the case for the Americans during that time, luck was on their side. Washington's rendezvous with his troops in Englewood went peacefully, but it could of easily turned violent. Early that night, Cornwallis, upon crossing the Hudson, perhaps out of fear of a trap, doubted that Huyler's Landing was the best site from which to make an ascent up the Palisade escarpment. So Cornwallis consumed several hours looking for a more favorable site, before convincing himself the site was the best he could hope for. Had Cornwallis not spent hours scouting for an alternative landing, the British may well have reached Englewood before Washington's forces had retreated. Englewood may well have been one of the bloodiest of many military disasters for the Americans in 1776.

For the sixth year in a row, Primary Day is seeing one or more contests between the two factions of the Democratic Party in Englewood. One faction, including Mayor Michael Wildes and Councilman Jack Drakeford, is allied with County Democratic Boss Joe Ferriero. The other faction, including Council members Gordon Johnson, Ken Rosenzweig, Charlotte Bennett Schoen and Scott Reddin, is opposed to Ferriero. The anti-Ferriero forces, after a string of victories in recent years, have gained control of our City government with a 4-1 majority on the City Council. The Ferriero forces, however, are mounting a major counter effort this year, challenging Rosenzweig in the First Ward and Reddin in the Third Ward with a blitz of mailings, signs and door-to-door campaigning. The monetary cost of this effort, when tallied, may well set a local record.

What is at stake is nothing less than control of the City government, meaning control of jobs, contracts, planning decisions, and the allocation of City services. The County machine works by giving preference to those who contribute and those who play the game, and trying to destroy those who get in the way. Rosenzweig and Reddin, to their credit, have tried to bring back responsible boss-free government to Englewood, and have thus encountered the wrath of Ferriero and his allies. Anyone who doubts the utter cynicism and venality of the Ferriero machine should pay heed to the headlines this week about the Federal corruption investigation into its activities.

Everything else you hear or read about this election on Tuesday is beside the point. If you live in the First Ward, vote for Ken Rosenzweig. If you live in the Third Ward, vote for Scott Reddin. Wherever you live, vote for the candidates listed as Real Bergen Democrats.

"I wasn't kissing her, I was whispering in her mouth."
- Chico Marx to his wife when caught kissing a showgirl backstage.

This morning (June 1), Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes has a place of prominence on the front page of the Bergen Record. This time it's not just another photo op or vanity piece. Quoting reporter Maya Kremen:

Mayor Michael Wildes has stocked Englewood’s Planning Board with campaign contributors and personal friends who have, in turn, voted for projects presented by other friends and donors.

In response, Wildes makes blanket denials, claiming, "There's no connection between contributions and appointments." For this and other boldly absurd statements, our Mayor earns the ER's very first CHICO Award.

Of course, those who have been following Mr. Wildes' political career find this neither new nor surprising.

One of Englewood's latest development controversies actually dates back to 2002, when Mr. Wildes was a councilman. At that time, Councilmen Wildes and Drakeford voted to give a generous tax abatement to the Town Centre developers. Now the chickens are coming home to roost. According to the Bergen Record:

City officials say they learned of the tax abatement deal with Towne Center after its developers, The Real Estate Equity Co., claimed they were overcharged $294,500 in taxes this year. Interim City Manager Bob Casey informed officials about the claim in a memo this week.
"Obviously this is an explosive issue, but all we can do is clean up the actions taken in 2002 so that they conform to the law and/or minimize the financial impact on the city," he wrote.

Since this news broke, Mr. Wildes has been trying to duck responsibility for his 2002 vote with his now familiar "The Buck Stops There" defense, saying:

The city manager and the professionals were pointedly clear that this was an overwhelming financial win for the city. 

What Mr. Wildes fails to mention is that he also accepted thousands in campaign donations from Town Centre developers (Atlantic Realty).

Whoops. 

In talking about this latest tax fiasco, it is clear that Wildes and Drakeford would rather spin themselves as unwitting, feckless rubber stamps than political enablers.  Quoting Drakeford: 

... it was not up to council members to parse the details of development agreements.  We have an attorney, we had a city manager and they — as far as I can see — they recommended a proposal... We relied on the professionals to give us the best advice at the time.

Yet, it's hard to believe that dodgy decisions like the 2002 tax giveaway are merely cases of Wildes' and Drakeford's gullibility and incompetence.  Just last year, Wildes' stacked Planning Board passed a resolution that would allow developer HKT to change its Route 4 South project from condos to rentals.  This deal would have resulted in yet another loss to Englewood taxpayers worth an estimated $2 million per year. Fortunately, the current Council immediately threatened legal action and remediated the problem, getting back the millions Wildes and his Planning Board had given away. 

As The Englewood Report previously recounted, Bergen County Boss Joe Ferriero was the attorney for HKT, the developer of the South of Route 4 project.  As well, Michael Kasparian, the K of HKT, employed Mr. Ferriero as his personal attorney and, later, hired then-Councilman Doug Bern as Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority (BCUA) attorney.

So why would Wildes attempt to curry favor with Boss Ferriero? As Wildes' very own campaign manager David Sivella explains:

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.

This primary season, voters have the chance to take a stand against these inside traders and back scratchers. We have the opportunity to cast our votes for Real Bergen Democrats Scott Reddin (Third Ward) and Ken Rosenzweig (First Ward). The local candidates in Column 3, The Real Bergen Democrats, have taken a stand against the continual onslaughts of inside traders, self seekers and their marketers.

As well, voters in District 1-1 should write in Dr. Earl Marsan for Municipal Committeeman in place of the beloved, but now deceased, Wally Reid. Dr. Marsan has a long and distinguished record of volunteer service to Englewood, both as a member of the Board of Health and as a past candidate for public office.

Superior Court Judge Robert C. Wilson ruled on May 23 that votes for deceased Democratic County Committee Candidate Wallace Reid should not be counted in the June 3 Primary Election. Reid, running for reelection in Englewood Ward One, District One, died more than three days after the filing period ended. He had been endorsed by Real Bergen Democrats, who are requesting 1-1 Democrats (whose polling place is the Englewood Public Library) to write in the name of Earl Marsan instead. Dr. Marsan is a retired dentist, a former City Council candidate, and long-time member of the Englewood Board of Health. For information on the write-in procedure, contact the other 1-1 County Committee member, Sandra Slipp, at 201-569-7199 or sandyslipp@aol.com.  For our views on the Primary, see "Another Contentious Primary."