Yudin wins BCRO Chairmanship, 57%-43%
By Matt Friedman, PolitickerNJ.com ReporterRobert Ortiz’s reign as Bergen County Republican Chairman came to an end tonight, just 11 months after he took the helm of this beleaguered party.
The victory for Bob Yudin, 69, was the conclusion of a particularly nasty and hard fought battle, but Yudin sought to start the process of unifying the party immediately.
“No recriminations. None,” said Yudin in his victory speech. “This is about all of us getting together, and uniting as one Bergen County Republican Organization.”
Yudin won with 412 votes to Ortiz’s 317.
Yudin acknowledged that the party has seen better days, and said that local Republicans need to face the facts that elections won’t be won by huge margins. Instead, he talked up building the party from a local level on up – the same philosophy that helped bring Ortiz to victory last year.
“I’m very confident in my ability to captain the Titanic around the iceberg, and I’m going to work very hard to bring the S.S. Bergen County Republican Ship into port,” he said. “We have an enormous amount of work to do. A house is not built from the top down. A house is built from the foundation up.”
In calling for unity, Yudin said that he would talk with Ortiz to come up with a significant position for him I the party. He even made some remarks that some county committee members saw as an acknowledgement that he may support Ortiz for the chairmanship sometime in the future.
“I really am 69 years old and I’m not going to stay forever,” said Yudin, who plans to devote himself full-time to the job. “So I want to say to Rob that I want you to stay and be active.”
Yudin, in his first order of business, made the surprise move of appointing Republican activist Joe Caruso as the party’s new finance chairman. Caruso, who lives in Passaic County, was instrumental in getting Ortiz elected last summer, but frustrated with a perceived lack of input, switched over to support Yudin.
Tonight’s results were the culmination of a fall from grace for Ortiz, 36, a former fundraiser for George W. Bush who was considered a rising star in the party when he was first elected last July. His loss tonight can be traced to several political missteps that galvanized opposition by some of his former supporters and at least one prominent politician who remained neutral last year: state Sen. Gerald Cardinale.
In his concession speech, Ortiz congratulated Yudin and asked his supporters to rally around him.
Ortiz acknowledged that one of the main reasons he lost was his recruitment of Andy Unanue, a friend and client, to run for U.S. Senate after the BCRO had given state Sen. Joe Pennacchio the county line. That candidacy lasted three weeks before revelations about Unanue’s work history and residency derailed it.
“I’m pretty sure I expended a lot of political capital on that, and hindsight is 20/20.” said Ortiz. “But at the end of the day, he was a friend and he wanted to get into the races.”
Cardinale cited several other missteps, like the failure to get last year’s District 37 legislative candidates enough $10 donations to qualify for public funding under the Clean Elections program, and a slow start getting to work after Ortiz was initially elected. Other critics pointed to unwanted robo-calls in the non-partisan Ridgewood council races last month, and Ortiz’s devotion of party resources to Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign.
“It was obvious that he didn’t have a concept of what the job entails,” said Cardinale.
Before the results were in, Ortiz supporters cast the race as between the old guard and the new guard. Anthony Attanasio, a 27-year-old Union County resident who managed Kate Whimtan’s congressional campaign, said that Yudin supporters expected too much, too soon from Ortiz.
“Some guy just walked up to me before and said ‘Ortiz has done nothing for the party. Raising $200,000 in 10 months and having a net gain of 19 council seats is nothing?,” he said.
Former Bergen County Utilities Authority Chairman Ben Focarino, who was knocked out in last week’s election and then endorsed Yudin, said that the party’s internal divisions will heal shortly. Before the results were in, Focarino said that Yudin would bring activists from “different paths” to the party, and that Ortiz could learn from the experience.
“He’s probably learned more in the last 10 days than he has in the last 10 months.”
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- Jul 2 2009
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How is 95 votes a landslide
How is 95 votes a landslide victory again? I mean I know its a BIG number but its not a landslide.
Congratulations
to Bergen Republican county committee. The biggest turnout in recent years. Yudin and Focorino have now a mandate to lead. Great choice of Caruso for finance chair too. This is not the time for some to take their ball and donors and stay home. Bergen County has a chance to unite and they must protect the county clerks office.
Congratulations to Bob
He has shown he will be a very strong and formidable chairman who may in fact re-define the GOP in a positive way. Moreover, to have over 700 committeepeople vote, shows that with his backers plus moderate Ortiz voters the BCRO has a strong future ahead.
A Sad Day
I guess this means that the Todd Caliguires and John Gintys of the party will once again be headlining Bergen County GOP tickets.
Bergen County has now been completely handed over to the Democrats. Good job, folks. I hope you're really proud of yourselves.
Democracy is an awful way to run a country, but it's the best system we have.- Winston Churchill
Yudin is the first salvo
Yudin is the first salvo against the Essex County Democrat machine's infiltration into the BCRO via Kevin O'Toole with his tentacles reaching into Bergen through 6 towns in District 40.
The Democrat machine has O'Toole by the short hairs because he and his family are pulling down over a half mil a year at the pleasure of Essex County, controlled by the Democrat machine.
I hope Yudin's election is not going to result into a Rodney King "can't we all get along" moment, because what is necessary is to clean up our own party. Dump our own garbage before the Democrats do, which is what has been happening and why Bergen turned Democrat.
Let's go back to our Republican Roots, standing for the sanctity of life, morality, personal responsibility and smaller less intrusive government.
"We will have peace when they love their children more than they hate us" ~ Golda Meir
Has anyone noticed?
Check out how close the politickernj poll was to the actual results. Actual 57% to 43% for Yudin and the Poll was 56% to 44%.
Great job political hacks!!
R. S. Mountainside, you should take note.
"We will have peace when they love their children more than they hate us" ~ Golda Meir
first lesson in democracy
Dino,Accepting the will of the voters. If you have no respect for the process then you have no respect for yourself. This is not aboutthose people you mentioned . It is about all Bergen County Republicans who can come together from all sides to make things work. STAYING HOME IS NOT THE ANSWER
Dino
I don't understand your logic. Your ilk took over when Republicans ran Bergen County. Your guys systematically stripped basic Republican principles from the party, and the Democrats were able to systematically take town by town from us.
Why are you resistant to returning to winning Republican principles?
"We will have peace when they love their children more than they hate us" ~ Golda Meir
bcro
let's see how good yudin's ticket does in November or next november for that matter.
Team work
DINO,
When Ferriero won his election as BCDO chief The DINOS of that party complained too. But they will all join hands and donate to beat the living daylights out of us in the fall. So my friend one question to you. Are you going to join ranks to beat the Democrats ?
bergenite
So my friend one question to you. Are you going to join ranks to beat the Democrats?
My desire to beat the Democrats has never been a question which is why I am extremely disappointed that the county committee has just chosen the Jose Arango of Bergen County to lead their party.
I'll believe that Bob Yudin has the best interest of the party at heart when I see it.
For starters, it's imperative that he get behind John McCain whether he's in lockstep with him ideologically or not. It is his resposibility as the chairman of the party to support him and do all he can to help him win the state. Otherwise, he's not serving his purpose.
A party chairman's responsibility is not to chest thump and profess his undying conservatism. It's to get republicans elected whether you agree with them 100% of the time or 60% of the time.
Joe: My ilk??? Care to expound on that?
Democracy is an awful way to run a country, but it's the best system we have.- Winston Churchill
Time to Work
I think we should focus less on who is running the party – County Committee that makes up BCRO has spoken now they need to work. The real effort should be on educating the voters in Bergen County towns that keep getting hit with tax increases thanks to Dem cronies that run the local towns and County Govt. I know it happens in my town. This is a good year for R’s with Kathe Donovan a top vote getter heading the ticket. We also need County's that don't have contested elections to get involved in Bergen.
To D. Woodbyne – responding to an earlier post, I’m not sure I get your “Mr. Campaign Manager” reference. You might have me confused with someone else. I actually voted for you in the Freeholder convention. I also supported Mr. Duggan and Jeff Heller – I supported Heller because Chairman Ortiz was sort of “against” him. My apologies if you took my comments as calling you a loser – I feel you lost and fell victim to movement against Chairman Ortiz (nothing about you as a candidate) – BCRO was becoming a place that whoever the Chair was supporting, people were going to go against. It could have easily been Mr. Calabrese on the short end of the stick thanks to Chairman Ortiz.
Yudin is a McCain backer
Yudin was for McCain before just about any other Bergen GOP leader was. Last night's vote gives me some hope for the BCRO. Yudin will work full-time at the job and not be looking at it as a steppingstone. And he will listen to his committee. I also hope that Deirdre pitches in and works toward a victory this fall despite her candidate's loss. She can make a big difference in unifying the party.
Dino, I'm expounding.
To you it is strategy, deals, compromise, etc. as a vehicle to victory. That is why, Republicans can no longer discuss the sanctity of life, it is controversial. We cannot oppose gun control, it is controversial. What's next? Gay marriage? Welfare? There is no issue that we are willing to sacrifice what ever it takes to defend. That is why we need to set standards that will draw voters to us. We get depressing turnout at elections because we stand for nothing. Did we prove we are worthy when we controlled New Jersey?
Those of my ilk want to restore the good name of Republican. Our party is like Ford Motors, years of lousy quality control has put their very existence in jeopardy. Ford has been working hard to come back but you cannot restore a bad reputation in 5 years, and maybe not even in 10 years. To do it you need flawless quality control, zero defects. Only one screw up during the rebuilding period will set you back to square one.
How can we be inspired to come out in November when we are trying to pass off defective candidates like McCain and Zimmer to the voters? They should have been stamped REJECT and tossed in the trash by our party leaders, but our leaders are all REJECTS incapable of discerning quality.
"We will have peace when they love their children more than they hate us" ~ Golda Meir
New Hope for Bergen County
Bergen County once again has two parties. I think Bob will motivate Republicans to be excited again. He got 412 votes WHEN HAS THAT EVER HAPPENED???
Joe
"How can we be inspired to come out in November when we are trying to pass off defective candidates like McCain and Zimmer to the voters?"
If Gop.Observer is correct which I'm more than confident that he is, then I'm confused over your warm embrace of Bob Yudin as he is a stong supporter of John McCain. Doesn't that make him a RINO? Whatever shall you do? Aren't you just soooooo disillusioned right now???
Joe, you haven't expounded on anything. Whether conservative or moderate, my goal is for Republicans to be elected to office. If that's Bob Yudin's agenda fine, but if his agenda is your agenda, the party is royally screwed.
The bottom line is that the average voter in this country doesn't care about these issues. They are backburner issues as far as they're concerned. While I would wholeheartedly disagree with that on a personal level, on a strategical level, you have to deal with the hot button issues such as fixing the economy and getting the price of oil and health insurance costs down. That's all anybody cares about right now.
Furthermore, your opening sentence just proves how politically naive and clueless you are. Politics IS strategy, deals and compromise. Ronald Reagan knew that which is why he believed in adopting Democrat tactics, in particular, their GOTV effort. Then again, since Reagan was an advocate for amnesty, I guess he's a RINO in you book too, eh?
Jeez, get a clue, seriously.
Democracy is an awful way to run a country, but it's the best system we have.- Winston Churchill
Yudin won Bergen 4 Whitman TWICE
he is a great campaign manager and he is perfect for this role!
Apology needed!
The following elected officials should feel stupid in light of what happened on Tuesday and they should apologize to the BCRO County Committee members (this is my second posting in this regards and no apologies came yet):
Mike Ferguson, Congressman-7th District
Kevin O’Toole, State Senator-D40
Scott Rumana, Assemblyman-D40
Dave Russo, Assemblyman-D40
Charlotte Vandervalk, Assemblywoman-D39
Kathleen Donovan, County Clerk
Charley Shotmeyer, State Committeeman
Bill Layton, Chairman-Burlington County GOP
Rick DeMichele, Chairman-Camden County GOP
Phil Morin, Chairman-Union County GOP
Rich Zeoli, Chairman-Sussex County GOP
Keith Davis, Chairman-Atlantic County GOP
Douglas Sorantino, Chairman-Cumberland County GOP
Dale Florio, Chairman-Somerset County GOP
Doug Steinhardt, Chairman-Warren County GOP
Henry Kuhl, Chairman-Hunterdon County GOP
George Gilmore, Chairman-Ocean County GOP
Wiel
Apology needed
In regards to what exactly? Assuming that any of them actually wastes their time here as we political junkies do, shouldn't they be told what they "need" to apologize for?
Democracy is an awful way to run a country, but it's the best system we have.- Winston Churchill
DIno
Yudin has RINO tendencies but he is not Ortiz. Bob is an honest decent man. Ortiz should be disbarred for all of the conflict of interest entanglements he loves to swim in.
The only qualifications that our founding father's had in mind was a submission to God, knowing that he or she will be judged. Ortiz does not fit!
"We will have peace when they love their children more than they hate us" ~ Golda Meir
WHAT????
Yudin has RINO tendencies but he is not Ortiz.
RINO tendencies??
I must say that your Republican litmus test is inconsistent at best!
Democracy is an awful way to run a country, but it's the best system we have.- Winston Churchill
What part of " its over" do you not understand ?
Wiel,Dino etc enough already. People who stood behind Ortiz should not have to give any apology, Instead they should be given a chance to help the Republican party in their own way. We as a party should be proud of the fact that we as individuals have a right to different points of view and the ability and the maturity to heal after a victory or defeat.
Keystone Kops
kevin O'toole
David Russo
Matt kazmierczyk
Chuck Shotmeyer
David Catougno
Ryan Peene
Keith Zackheim
The Keystone Kops have nothing on these guys. Even using their entire bag of dirty tricks and political threats they still couldn't
get Ortiz re-elected. They put all their effort into this, the most inept and shortlived political operations in Bergen county history.
Saya nara fellas.
Chairman Yudin.
Anyone, especially someone who served in the Navy making comparisons that being the chairman is like steering the Titanic desperately needs some PR help!
Yudin won because Ortiz was too young, too inexperienced and not real engaged in trying to win county races.
Being county chairman is all about winning the freeholder board. That must be the #1 priority of any political chairman in New Jersey.
To do that, they must be able to raise money for that specific purpose. Local candidates don't want candidates above them who can't win. In the case of the BCRO, they have the opportunity to knock off the weakest ticket Democrats have fielded since 1999 (the last time they lost freeholder seats).
Yudin is not the answer. But he's better than Ortiz who was just pandering to all the wrong groups such as Trump, etc.
If Yudin can surround himself with people who know how to win, the race in the fall could be actually interesting given last year's closer than usual results at the county level.
Vote Column - All the way!
Hey Dino know nothing!!
Are you kidding me?????????
"it's imperative that he get behind John McCain whether he's in lockstep with him ideologically or not"
That stupid, is exactly why the NJ GOP is in the CRAPPER and LOSERS for years and will be in the future because they have accepted that version and I including others, I am sure, DO NOT find that acceptable any more. "I'm With Fred" and will be till I see a better choice.
GOD help us and GOD help America in the coming years..............
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