This past week, Bergen County Democratic Organization Boss Joe Ferriero endorsed Rev. Vernon Walton for County Freeholder, making sure everyone knew that the politically obscure Walton would become the first African-American to hold that office. 

The Boss issued this heartwarming communiqué:

What's most important is the Democratic Party has always been a party of inclusion, a party that is there to work for the under privileged, to work for seniors, to improve education.

Well, isn't that special!

Cloaking his BCDO pay-to-play operation in the progressive mantle of the National Democratic Party brand does seem a canny, if baldly bogus, marketing ploy for Ferriero.  Seasoned Record columnist Mike Kelly has joined others in finding their bogometers pinned to red, writing:

How ironic. Ferriero, the epitome of closed-door politics, is trying to portray himself as an inclusive liberal who invites blacks into his circle. Don't believe it.

Walton, who is also a Baptist minister, was a Ferriero ally when he was an Englewood councilman. And that alliance cost Walton his councilman's job. He was defeated in 2006 by another African-American, Gordon Johnson, who just happens to also be a state assemblyman and an opponent of Ferriero's boss-like rule of county Democrats. (Record, 1/20/08)

By announcing his choice of Walton, Mr. Ferriero intends to give Bergen County's first African-American Freeholder the inspiring opportunity to steer no-bid contracts back to Mr. Ferriero's political donors.  Perhaps only in New Jersey could a Party Boss proudly promote this as a socio-political milestone.
But, in our democracy,  how significant is Joe Ferriero's endorsement, really? 

Ferriero's endorsement carries near-absolute influence among the 1,100 members of the Democratic County Committee, who will gather by early February to choose an occupant for the seat... Other candidates may also enter the race. But members of the county committee, many of whom are county employees and elected Democratic officials, are expected to overwhelmingly back Ferriero's choice. (Record, 1/16/08)

It's the least they'd better do for their patron.  After all, they owe their livelihood to him! 

This kind of raw consolidation of power through dispensing patronage jobs, public money and quid pro quos is not new.  And it is not new in Rev. Walton's public sector résumé.

Back in 2002 (Record, 10/22/02), Rev. Walton, a relative newcomer to Englewood, obtained a controversial part-time position as a nebulous "community liaison" for Superintendent John Grieco at $37,500 for ten months' work. What work product was expected and what value was gotten is not known. But Walton's contentious employment was certainly advocated for by Grieco's County employer, Bergen County Tech School Board Trustee and Ferriero associate Jack Drakeford.   

In 2003 (Record, 6/24/04), County Boss Ferriero then enlisted Rev. Walton as an Englewood City Council candidate over the choice of our city's Democratic Municipal Committee.  Englewood's Democrats had selected longtime resident, community activist and African-American health professional Dr. Earl Marsan.  In 2004, (Record, 6/3/04) Ferriero exercised his power over ballot positions by banishing the rebellious Englewood Democrats to the Lyndon LaRouche column (there's that name again!).

In 2004, Joe Ferriero appointed Rev. Walton to the Ramapo College Board of Trustees. At that time, machine Democrats were trying to install Hudson County politico Joe Doria as Ramapo College President over the objections of a broad coalition of students, citizens and professors. (Record, 12/21/04)

In 2007, Ferriero acolyte Mayor Michael Wildes put Rev. Walton on the Englewood Planning Board, where Walton voted in lockstep with Wildes' Board in granting variances and tax deals to Mr. Ferriero's original clients, Hekemian, Kasparian, Troast.  The extraordinary timeline of this project can be seen at our "Duck Test" article.

Rev. Walton's three year term as a City Councilman from 2004 to 2006 was undistinguished.   According to a former colleague, Councilman Walton almost never opened his mouth except to vote with the Ferriero bloc of Drakeford and Bern.  Despite his County machine support, Vernon Walton lost his reelection bid to Gordon Johnson by an overwhelming margin.

I sincerely hope that when confronted with the inevitable conflict between serving the public interest and serving the Boss's interests, Freeholder Walton will choose the former.  But, if history is any guide, he has already seen what other ambitious politicians have experienced: the smoothest and most profitable road up New Jersey's political slagheap runs through a toll plaza controlled by a County Boss. The other road, the road too often not taken, is the risky road of public service integrity and courageous independence.