Noticias

The mayor of Bergen County’s fifth-largest town switched parties and endorsed Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli on Thursday evening. 

At an event celebrating the announcement, Garfield Mayor Everett E. Garnto Jr. said he felt like he had no choice but to leave the Democratic Party because “the state is broken.” A couple of hundred people filled a gymnasium in Garfield for the event, headlined by Ciattarelli and Garnto.

“For the last seven and a half years, [Gov.] Phil Murphy’s policies have left us with sky-high taxes, soaring electric bills, and less safe communities,” Garnto said. “New Jerseyans deserve better. Jack Ciattarelli is ready to turn this state around.”

The New Jersey Globe reported the endorsement and party switch on Wednesday.

Garnto said he voted for President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. He is a former school board member who served twelve years as president of the Garfield Police Benevolent Association Local 46.

Trump carried the town by about 9% last year, while Murphy won the town by about 3% in the 2021 gubernatorial election.

Ciattarelli will face Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) in November’s general election.

The former assemblyman also touted the endorsement of Dover Mayor James P. Dodd, a Democrat. He said the endorsements prove moderate Democrats in the state are looking to get away from Democratic state officials — and with the Democratic voter registration advantage, he’ll likely need strong numbers of independents and Democrats to consolidate with him in order to win.

“It’s not just Republicans who are crying out for change,” Ciattarelli told the crowd. “It’s unaffiliated, independent voters and yes, even moderate Democrats who’ve come to the realization that this current administration has failed.”

Garnto’s endorsement comes even as the second-place finisher in the GOP primary, radio host Bill Spadea, has vowed not to support the former assemblyman (Sherrill’s top primary competitor, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, endorsed the congresswoman on Wednesday). Ciattarelli said endorsements won’t be the deciding factor in the race.

“I do think at the end of the day, and I think the mayor would agree, it’s [about] what the candidate does,” Ciattarelli told reporters. “And what I do each and every day is get up and down this state and press the flesh.”

The post Garfield mayor switches to GOP, endorses Ciattarelli appeared first on New Jersey Globe.

Democrat Mikie Sherrill leads Republican Jack Ciattarelli by seven points, 46%-39%, among likely general election voters in a TechnoMetrica Poll for the New Jersey Governor’s race conducted for the conservative-leaning League of American Workers.

The poll puts Sherrill’s favorables at 40%-31%, and Ciattarelli at 33%-36%.   Among registered voters, Sherrill leads by just one percentage point, 37%-36%,

President Donald Trump has upside-down favorables of 39%-55%; nearly twice as many New Jersey voters think the Big Beautiful Bill will make their finances worse than better.

Gov. Phil Murphy favorables are at 46%-39%.

The poll has some errors: it misidentified Socialist Workers Party candidate Joann Kuniansky as Green Party candidate Joanne Zielinski; the Green Party candidate, Lily Benavides, was tossed off the ballot last week as a replacement for the original candidate, Steven Zielinski, who withdrew for health reasons.  Libertarian nominee Vic Kaplan was referred to as David Kaplan; either way, each of the two independents, fictional as they are, are polling at 2%.

Still, the poll numbers are consistent with ther polls over the last month.

TechnoMetrica Poll, aka TIPP Polling, had an A- rating from FiveThirtyEight.  Their New Jersey survey had a sample size of 1,524 registered voters and was conducted from August 25-28 with a margin of error of +/- 3%.

The post Poll shows Sherrill with 7 point lead over Ciattarelli among likely voters appeared first on New Jersey Globe.

Does acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba have the authority to continue carrying out her duties? A federal judge ruled last month that she doesn’t – and Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-Newark), by far the most high-profile defendant targeted by Habba’s office, agrees with him.

Asked today whether she thought U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann was correct in ruling that the maneuvers President Donald Trump used to keep Habba in office were illegitimate, McIver – who is currently being prosecuted by Habba for allegedly assaulting federal officers at an immigrant detention center – said “absolutely.”

“This is what this administration does,” McIver said. “They are breaking and bending and corrupting the rules to their likeness, for people who are loyal to them. It has nothing to do with merit, with experience, with qualification, with rules – they do whatever they want to do, and use it to benefit them.”

“At the end of the day, I’m not surprised that people are challenging what they did to try to keep her in place, because, in their mindset, it was wrong, and it’s not the normal process,” she continued. “We’ll just see how it plays out.”

Habba’s authority to serve as U.S. Attorney was challenged over the summer by two New Jersey defendants who argued that the steps the Trump administration took on her behalf, including firing a different acting U.S. Attorney appointed by New Jersey’s federal judges, rendered her ineligible to serve. Brann concurred in an August 21 ruling, though he immediately stayed his own order pending a now-ongoing appeal to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

The challenge is entirely separate from the case revolving around McIver, who got into a scuffle with immigration officials in May during an oversight visit at the Delaney Hall detention facility. McIver has called the controversial charges an attempt at political intimidation, and her legal team has filed several motions asking a federal judge to throw out the indictment in its entirety because of its allegedly political motivations and its connections to her official legislative duties.

Those motions, however, notably made no mention of the questions surrounding Habba’s legitimacy as U.S. Attorney; McIver said today that she hasn’t had discussions about linking her case with the challenge to Habba’s authority in any official way.

“Right now, we haven’t thought about that,” she said. “I’m highly focused on getting my case through the process so that I can 150% get back to focusing on the work of the 10th congressional district. I am already 100% focused on that, but I want my other 50% back.”

The post McIver, agreeing with federal judge, argues Habba lacks authority as U.S. Attorney appeared first on New Jersey Globe.

Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco said today that he will seek re-election to an unprecedented fourth term in 2026, and is expected to make a formal announcement at a fundraiser scheduled for this evening.

In a county that hasn’t elected a Republican since 2013, Tedesco is the strong favorite to win another term.

“When I see the progress we’ve made, the projects we’re about to break ground on, and the work still ahead, I know in my heart I’m ready to finish what we started,” said Tedesco.  “We’ve built something special here – making public safety a priority, investing in education, keeping our promise to seniors and veterans, and delivering smart, responsible budgets.”

A former Paramus mayor and fire chief, and Bergen County Freeholder, Tedesco will have the backing of Democratic County Chairman Paul Juliano.

“Jim Tedesco has been the most successful county executive in Bergen County’s history,” Paul Juliano said. “That success is because of his tireless work ethic and dedication to public service – he rolls up his sleeves every day and gets to work for the people of this county. We’ve accomplished a lot together, and with Jim at the helm, I know the best is yet to come.”

Tedesco touts a long list of accomplishments. Including keeping the county on solid fiscal footing while investing in schools, roads, parks, and infrastructure. He identified a list of current priorities: workforce housing for educators, first responders, and healthcare workers, a new Career Innovation High School, and upgrades ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup at MetLife Stadium.

“Working together, we’ve helped make Bergen County the best place in all of New Jersey to live, work, and raise a family – and together we can reach even greater heights,” he said.

Tedesco was first elected in 2014 in an eight-point victory against Republican incumbent Kathleen Donovan.  The year before, he ousted incumbent Freeholder John Mitchell by 68 votes countywide in an election where Republicans captured the other two seats.

He was re-elected with 54% in 2014, 63% in 2018, and 56% in 2022 against perennial candidate Todd Caligure, a former freeholder.

Donovan unseated two-term Democrat Dennis McNerney in 2010 with 53% of the vote.   McNerney, the first Democrat to win the county executive post, was elected in 2002 after defeating State Sen. Henry P. McNamara (R-Wykoff) by a 51%-47% margin.

Republican Bill McDowell won in 1986 against former Senate President Matthew Feldman, and Republican Pat Schuber held the post in 1990 against former State Sen. Jerramiah O’Connor, 1994 against former Assemblyman Edward Hynes, and 1998 against then-Assemblywoman Loretta Weinberg.

Tedesco is the fifth Bergen County Executive since the office was created in 1986, one year after local voters overwhelmingly approved a change to the county’s form of government.

As a candidate for re-election, Tedesco is pointing to several key accomplishments: restoring $6.5 million in education funding and expanding initiatives at Bergen County Community College and Technical and Special Services schools, marking 11 consecutive years of increased education investments; creating a countywide emergency medical team to address municipal volunteer shortages and improve ambulance response times, responding to more than 18,000 calls in its first 2.5 years; establishing New Jersey’s first countywide Age-Friendly Task Force to meet the needs of senior residents; protecting victims of scams and fraud by securing over $1.5 million in restitution through the County’s Office of Consumer Affairs; and earning recognition as the 9th safest county in the nation.

The post Tedesco will run for 4th term as Bergen County Excecutive appeared first on New Jersey Globe.