Calabrese Will Try Again For Freeholder

Bergen Record Endorses Calabrese for Freeholder

From The Record Monday, October 27, 2008, Editorial:

The Bergen County Board of Freeholders in its current all-Democratic incarnation is too clubby, too enamored of pay-to-play and too deeply in the pocket of the county Democratic organization.

The three incumbents who are running in this election - David Ganz, Bernadette McPherson and Vernon Walton - see no problem with a one-party board that has been characterized by a lack of transparency and accountability. There is too little public debate of spending questions and issues facing the county, and all seven of the freeholders vote the same way almost all of the time.

McPherson is a former mayor of Rutherford, Ganz is a former mayor of Fair Lawn and Walton is a minister in Englewood. They say they have held down spending, eliminated fat in the county budget, increased health and social service programs, improved parks and hiking trails and expanded Bergen Community College.

But Ganz, McPherson and Walton are too closely tied to Joseph Ferriero, the chairman of the county Democratic organization who has taken a leave of absence while he fights a federal corruption indictment.

It is time for Bergen County voters to slow down the party machine by electing the three Republican challengers: Chris Calabrese of Upper Saddle River, Paul Duggan of Bogota and Jeffrey Heller of Ramsey.

While the four Democrats remaining on the board would still maintain a one-freeholder majority, the lockstep consensus voting would end. Favoritism would be weakened, and there would be far more public discussion and debate on spending and other items.

Calabrese is the owner of a real estate company; Duggan is also in real estate; and Heller, a former Ramsey councilman, works in finance. They say they would bring business perspectives to the board and work to make county government smaller and more efficient.

Equally important, they would seek out more questions and comments from the public and try to bring more participatory democracy to county government. They say they would welcome the give and take that acts as a check on one-party rule and patronage - and would bring issues to light that the majority would rather keep quiet.

An invigorated bipartisan freeholder board benefits all county residents. For that reason, The Record endorses Calabrese, Duggan and Heller for Bergen County freeholder.

Bergen County Clerk Kathleen Donovan, a Republican, has done an excellent job and deserves to be reelected to a fifth term. She's made the services provided by the county clerk's office accessible to Bergen residents.

Her opponent, Democrat Diane Testa, the municipal clerk and administrator in Fairview, offers no substantive ideas for improvement.

The Record endorses Donovan.