"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.