Pay-To-Play In Bergen County
A County Leader at the Core of a Pay-to-Play Fight:
After the Democrats took control of Bergen County government in 2002, Neglia Engineering essentially switched allegiances, and upped the ante on contributions. In 2002, when the company gave the Republicans $7,200 and the Democrats $4,800, it received one contract for $90,000, according to public records.
The next year, the firm gave the Democrats $19,650 and the Republicans $4,120, and won six contracts totaling almost $221,000. Then in 2004, when the company gave Democrats $19,300, more than 14 times what it gave to the Republicans, the county awarded the company six contracts worth more than $307,000.
The shift in the company's donations appears to illustrate a link between campaign contributions and government contracts, a practice known as pay-to-play. And in New Jersey, one of the reputed masters of the system is Joseph A. Ferriero, the chairman of the Bergen County Democratic Organization. Ferriero is a partner at the firm of Scarinci & Hollenbeck. His wife, Diana, is a workers' compensation judge.
Ferriero's status as the top political leader in the state's most populous county affords him extraordinary power in selecting candidates, raising money statewide and influencing public policy. Through the strength of his political machine, he has been able to gobble up money and power, seat by seat, town by town, while rewarding contributors.
"The empire-building is getting your feet in town, helping the minority win control, and then controlling the appointments and no-bid contracts," said Matt Ahearn, a former Democratic assemblyman from Fair Lawn who had a falling-out with Mr. Ferriero. "That is the gold mine of New Jersey politics, and that is what bosses do."
It is only natural, Mr. Ferriero said, to do business with those closest to you ideologically and those you know best. And if doing business with those who support you drives up costs, it is offset by the benefits.
He added, "Yes, Democratic supporters have been given contracts. There's nothing wrong with it, because the government is giving work to people who are supportive of the team."
Ferriero became the county chairman in 1998, and that year Ferriero's party raised more than $1 million, or triple that of the previous year. In 2004, that figure approached $4 million, with a good portion coming from Democratic organizations, as well as developers, engineers and other firms from other parts of the state.
Now Democrats control six of the seven seats on the Board of Freeholders. They have nine legislators in Trenton, up from only three several years ago. And perhaps most impressively, the Bergen Democrats have claimed majority control of the councils in an additional 20 or so municipalities in just the last few years, some of which had been solidly Republican for decades.
But as the Democrats' power has consolidated, dissenting Democrats and Bergen's weakened Republican Party have tried, desperately, to highlight what they believe have been dubious contracts and inside-politics practices that exemplify the high price of doing business under the Democrats.
Critics have seized upon the emergence of the Bergen County Improvement Authority, a quasi-governmental body that has the power to issue debt, as a sign of. Ferriero's expanding influence. The authority's lawyer, Dennis Oury, is a close political ally of Ferriero's and the general counsel to the county party.
Since 2003, the authority's bond activities have skyrocketed to $50.3 million from $4.3 million, also generating increased fees and work for lawyers and others.
Democrats have been most under fire in Fair Lawn. What started out as a suggestion to spend $500,000 to renovate an existing building has turned into a $13 million state-of-the-art four-story theater and gymnasium. But that price tag, say disillusioned Democrats and dejected Republicans, has been inflated, and has contributed to a 60 percent increase in taxes over the last half-dozen years, thanks to the hiring of the same professionals who have been active Democratic donors.
One Fair Lawn resident, a lawyer and accountant named Donal A. Meyers, started a Web site that compiled contributions and other documents, fairlawnonline.com. That site contributed to a communitywide effort to unseat Mayor David L. Ganz, who is also a county freeholder and an ally of. Ferriero's.
Ganz lost his race for Mayor, but with another Democratic freeholder received almost $1 million from Mr. Ferriero's county organization, won re-election as freeholder.
New Jersey Government
After the Democrats took control of Bergen County government in 2002, Neglia Engineering essentially switched allegiances, and upped the ante on contributions. In 2002, when the company gave the Republicans $7,200 and the Democrats $4,800, it received one contract for $90,000, according to public records.
The next year, the firm gave the Democrats $19,650 and the Republicans $4,120, and won six contracts totaling almost $221,000. Then in 2004, when the company gave Democrats $19,300, more than 14 times what it gave to the Republicans, the county awarded the company six contracts worth more than $307,000.
The shift in the company's donations appears to illustrate a link between campaign contributions and government contracts, a practice known as pay-to-play. And in New Jersey, one of the reputed masters of the system is Joseph A. Ferriero, the chairman of the Bergen County Democratic Organization. Ferriero is a partner at the firm of Scarinci & Hollenbeck. His wife, Diana, is a workers' compensation judge.
Ferriero's status as the top political leader in the state's most populous county affords him extraordinary power in selecting candidates, raising money statewide and influencing public policy. Through the strength of his political machine, he has been able to gobble up money and power, seat by seat, town by town, while rewarding contributors.
"The empire-building is getting your feet in town, helping the minority win control, and then controlling the appointments and no-bid contracts," said Matt Ahearn, a former Democratic assemblyman from Fair Lawn who had a falling-out with Mr. Ferriero. "That is the gold mine of New Jersey politics, and that is what bosses do."
It is only natural, Mr. Ferriero said, to do business with those closest to you ideologically and those you know best. And if doing business with those who support you drives up costs, it is offset by the benefits.
He added, "Yes, Democratic supporters have been given contracts. There's nothing wrong with it, because the government is giving work to people who are supportive of the team."
Ferriero became the county chairman in 1998, and that year Ferriero's party raised more than $1 million, or triple that of the previous year. In 2004, that figure approached $4 million, with a good portion coming from Democratic organizations, as well as developers, engineers and other firms from other parts of the state.
Now Democrats control six of the seven seats on the Board of Freeholders. They have nine legislators in Trenton, up from only three several years ago. And perhaps most impressively, the Bergen Democrats have claimed majority control of the councils in an additional 20 or so municipalities in just the last few years, some of which had been solidly Republican for decades.
But as the Democrats' power has consolidated, dissenting Democrats and Bergen's weakened Republican Party have tried, desperately, to highlight what they believe have been dubious contracts and inside-politics practices that exemplify the high price of doing business under the Democrats.
Critics have seized upon the emergence of the Bergen County Improvement Authority, a quasi-governmental body that has the power to issue debt, as a sign of. Ferriero's expanding influence. The authority's lawyer, Dennis Oury, is a close political ally of Ferriero's and the general counsel to the county party.
Since 2003, the authority's bond activities have skyrocketed to $50.3 million from $4.3 million, also generating increased fees and work for lawyers and others.
Democrats have been most under fire in Fair Lawn. What started out as a suggestion to spend $500,000 to renovate an existing building has turned into a $13 million state-of-the-art four-story theater and gymnasium. But that price tag, say disillusioned Democrats and dejected Republicans, has been inflated, and has contributed to a 60 percent increase in taxes over the last half-dozen years, thanks to the hiring of the same professionals who have been active Democratic donors.
One Fair Lawn resident, a lawyer and accountant named Donal A. Meyers, started a Web site that compiled contributions and other documents, fairlawnonline.com. That site contributed to a communitywide effort to unseat Mayor David L. Ganz, who is also a county freeholder and an ally of. Ferriero's.
Ganz lost his race for Mayor, but with another Democratic freeholder received almost $1 million from Mr. Ferriero's county organization, won re-election as freeholder.
New Jersey Government
