the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Hackensack NJ, Municipal Chairman Frank Valenzuela is throwing a party at The Fiesta, where State Republican Chairman, Bob Hugin is slated to speak but it seems only the cool kids are invited . The cool kids being the BCRO endorsed candidates Todd Caliguire for County Exec , Doug Holden, Ronald Lin, and Diedre Paul for county commissioners aka the Line and Nick DeGregorio was given the line to face Congressman Josh Gottheimer.
The non- BCRO endorsed candidates are Linda Barba for county exec. Paul A. Duggan , Angelique R. Hakim , Mary J. Guinchard for commissioners and Frank Pallota congressional candidate .
For maybe the first time ever, Republican candidates running off the line in the run-up to the June primary have been specifically barred from attending the Rochelle Park Republican Party’s dinner/campaign kick-off–at the order of Municipal Chairman Frank Valenzuela. The event, taking place at The Fiesta in Wood-Ridge, will feature the State Republican Chairman, Bob Hugin, and is set to honor Committeewoman Susan Iacobucci, Committeeman Vincent Bessetti, and Deputy Mayor Candidate Gail Artola.
When Linda Barba and other off-the-line candidates RSVP’d to attend Chairman Valenzuela’s party at The Fiesta, they received a response from the chairman saying they would not be permitted to attend. “The event is closed to any candidates that are running vs. the officially endorsed Bergen County Republican Organization line with whom our local candidates share Column 2,” the chairman said in an email. “We will be publicly endorsing Todd, Doug, Ron and Diedre, the winners who participated in the BCRO convention process in the presence of the State Chairman and our local supporters.”