June 22,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Hackensack NJ, After what can be best described as a contentious, race between two local political allies-turned-rivals, Bergen county Republicans have chosen a new leader in former state Assemblyman Paul DiGaetano, who defeated controversial eight-year incumbent Chairman Bob Yudin in a party election held Tuesday.
The vote tally showed DiGaetano who was backed by the Ridgewood blog with and almost 2-1 margin of 539 votes and Yudin with 274.
DiGaetano has inherited a GOP in disarray and reeling from years of infighting . The Bergen GOP has suffered election loss after election loss and was once accused by the Ridgewood blog of losing on purpose . DiGaetano must now lead his embattled party in an effort to gain footing at the county level of politics after a steady decline in party power at that level in recent years.
While we have always liked Bob Yudin , the issues to the Ridgewood blog has been one of winning or in this case not wining .
The once sleepy chairmanship election ended a bitter race, which included allegations of ethnic slurs, a decade-old alleged death threat against a state senator and last-minute campaign literature, political endorsements and emails to party members urging support.
Bergen County Republican Organization Committee members cast their votes determining the outcome.
During Bob Yudin’s tenure as party chairman, BCRO members have watched the party go from having the county executive’s office, the sheriff’s office and a majority on the Board of Freeholders to now having only one incumbent Republican official running for office, Freeholder Maura DeNicola who was also endorsed by this blog.
With six county-level positions Sheriff, three freeholder seats, clerk and surrogate are all up for election on the ballot in November, the Republicans face the prospect of a shut out of county government or political Armageddon.
As repored on this blog a decade-old rumor surfaced when state Sen. Kevin O’Toole claimed that in 2005, when he was the Essex County Republican chairman, DiGaetano threatened his life after O’Toole refused to endorse DiGaetano’s bid for governor. We felt the allegations were fallacious given the source ,O’Tool is a known hot head and has been known to make threats himself.
Are you saying that only 813 people voted in the whole county?
The Bergen Dispatch says the voters in the election are, “The 1000+ eligible voters include elected/appointed Republican County Committee Members, Municipal Chair and District Chairs, Republican Elected Officials Who Reside in Bergen County and BCRO Executive Board Members.”
There are about 400 County Committee members for the Republican Party. Due to low participation getting elected as a County Committee member can be as simple as writing in your own name at the primary vote.