Wednesday, November 7, 2007

By OSHRAT CARMIEL and JIM WRIGHT

STAFF WRITERS, The Record 

TARIQ ZEHAWI / THE RECORD Sheriff Leo McGuire (left) waits for results at the Hilton.

Election 2007: View all election coverage

Democrats maintained their grip on Bergen County government Tuesday, with well-funded incumbents winning reelection to the Freeholder Board and the Sheriff's Office, according to early returns.

Democratic Sheriff Leo McGuire defeated his Republican opponent, Harry Shortway Jr.

With 85 percent of the vote counted, McGuire had 73,773 votes to Shortway's 56,850.

And Democratic Freeholders Tomas Padilla, Elizabeth Calabrese and James Carroll also won reelection against their Republican opponents, Paul Duggan, Robert Yudin and Charles Kahwaty.

Democrats Carroll, Padilla and Calabrese received 68,989, 68,114 and 69,669 votes, respectively, while their GOP opponents,

Kahwaty, Yudin and Duggan had 58,251, 59,894 and 59,569, respectively.

The win secures the Democrats' unanimous control of the seven-member Board of Freeholders for another year.

"The voters have reaffirmed that Democrats run the county better, hold the line on taxes better," Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero told a crowded ballroom of Democratic supporters.

As he announced the victorious results, the deejay, inside the rented ballroom at Hasbrouck Heights Hilton, began playing the tune "I Shot the Sheriff" -- and Ferriero quickly corrected that statement: "We're not going to shoot the sheriff -- we elected a sheriff! Leo McGuire!"

Kahwaty said that his party's loss in county races was disheartening, but was tempered by successes elsewhere.

"We're disappointed with outcome, but we take solace in the fact that the Bergen County Republican Party is now a viable player in this area after a very long drought," he said.

In the freeholder race, Republican challengers, running with limited funds and under the helm of a new party chairman, campaigned on the premise that corruption flourishes in a government dominated by one party.

They argued that the board's Democrats, all of whom are closely aligned with the Bergen County Democratic Organization, routinely -- often unanimously -- approve big-ticket items and no-bid contracts for political contributors. And they chastised the freeholders for not posting meeting agendas online or making them easily accessible to the public.

In their quest to secure themselves minority status on the Freeholder Board, the Republicans vowed to be the check and balance on the Democrats' spending decisions

Ultimately, the GOP message of good government was undercut by the Republicans' limited financial resources. The Democratic incumbents, by comparison, spent lavishly, relying on backing from the Democratic Party -- and the professional contractors and county employees that reliably donate to it.

The Democrats, running as a team, outspent the Republicans by more than 10 to 1. In the sheriff's race, McGuire -- also heavily financed by his party -- touted his record of reducing overtime costs, while his opponent, accused him of increasing spending on personnel.