Sami Merhi

Sami Merhi, the controversial Arab-American businessman who was to be the Democratic nominee for Passaic County Freeholder until key Democrats -- including Governor Jon Corzine and Senator Bob Menendez -- stopped his candidacy, will drop his Independent bid for Freeholder today and endorse the Democratic ticket.

Passaic County Republicans have nominated Erik Lowe of Paterson, Arthur Soto of Passaic and Keith LaForgia, a Clifton school board member to run for Freeholder this year. Newly-elected GOP County Chairman Scott Rumana was forced to overhaul his ticket after the three candidates who won the June primary -- former County Clerk Ronnie Nochimson, Passaic City Councilman Jonathan Soto and Hawthorne attorney/author Kenneth DelVecchio -- each dropped out for different reasons. Arthur Soto is Jonathan's brother.

Democrats in Passaic County also had trouble keeping Freeholder candidates. They initially nominated Sami Merhi, a controversial Arab-American businessman, to replace retiring Freeholder Lois "I am in a hurry. I need you to make me a sandwich, fast" Cuccinello after several Democrats -- including Governor Jon Corzine and Senator Robert Menendez -- said Merhi's comments on terrorism made it impossible to support him. Their replacement candidate was Joanne Graziano, a Hawthorne school board member who dropped out of the race after reports that she did not have a degree she claimed on her resume. The newest candidate is Taheesha Way, a political newcomer whose husband played football for the New York Giants.

All three Republican candidates for Passaic County Freeholder have now dropped out of the race. Passaic City Councilman Jonathan Soto announced last week that he was withdrawing as a candidate in order to become Chairman of the Passaic Redevelopment Agency. Soto's exit came a week after Kenneth Del Vecchio announced he would not run in order to concentrate on the production of a movie based on one of his books. Earlier in July, former County Clerk Ronnie Nochimson exited the race following the death of her father. For a time, it looked like the Passaic GOP had a potential All-Star roster, with Nochimson and Ronald Fava, a former Sheriff, Assemblyman, Prosecutor and Judge in the race. Now, newly-elected Passaic GOP Chairman Scott Rumana is searching for two new candidates to run, along with Derek Lowe, a political newcomer from Paterson who replaced Nochimson on the Republican ticket.

Passaic Democrats have had a tough year as well. The pulled their first candidate, controversial Arab American businessman Sami Merhi, after several Democrats -- including Governor Jon Corzine and Senator Robert Menendez -- said Merhi's comments on terrorism made it impossible to support him. Their replacement candidate was Joanne Graziano, a Hawthorne school board member who dropped out of the race after reports that she did not have a degree she claimed on her resume. The newest candidate is Taheesha Way, a political newcomer whose husband played football for the New York Giants.

For a brief moment, it looked like the Republicans might have been putting together a sort of dream team in the race for Passaic County Freeholder: former County Clerk Ronnie Nochimson and former Sheriff Ronald Fava had both become candidates for Passaic County Freeholder. Fava, an ex-Assemblyman, Passaic County Freeholder and Paterson Municipal Court Judge, dropped out of the race after GOP County Chairman Michael Mecca -- declined to give him the organization line. Now Nochimson has withdrawn -- replaced on the ballot by a political newcomer from Paterson.

Democrats were having problems picking their candidate: first they chose Sami Merhi, a controversial Arab American businessman; then after many Democrats, including Governor Jon Corzine and U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, said they would not back him, Passaic Demoocrats voted to revoke their support of Merhi and back Joanne Graziano, a Hawthorne school board member and teachers union leader. But when questions regarding the accuracy of Graziano's resume were exposed, she withdrew from the race. Now Democrats are backing a political newcomer, Tahesha Way, the wife of a former New York Giants football player.

But with Nochimson out of the race, the GOP has lost their marquis candidate and even with Merhi still running as an Independent, the Republicans probably have little chance to win a contest in a county they have not carried since 2001.

Democrat Joanne Graziano is expected to withdraw from the race for Passaic County Freeholder within the next few days. The Hawthorne Board of Education member was nominated after Democrats withdrew their support for embattled Arab American businessman Sami Merhi. In recent weeks, she has faced allegations that she did not have a masters degree that had been listed on her original resume. Graziano was seeking the seat of Freeholder Lois Cuccinello, who is not running for re-election.

Assemblyman Gary Schaer says that comments made by Arab-American businessman Sami Merhi in a Star-Ledger column written by Tom Moran is "evidence that he is unfit to have the endorsement of the Passaic County Democratic Party." Moran wrote that Merhi "was hesitant to condemn Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two groups responsible for most suicide bombings in Israel and the occupied territories, even though he was perfectly comfortable condemning al Qaeda."

Schaer, an Orthodox Jew from Passaic, says that he is open to supporting a candidate from the Arab-American community on the Democratic line, just not Merhi. "Hamas is an organization that since September 2000, is credited with over 500 terrorist attacks, killing 400 Israelis and wounding over 2,100. Among their more infamous attacks was the bombing of a hotel during a Passover Seder holiday celebration in March of 2002, killing 30 and wounding 140 mostly elderly participants." The freshman Assemblyman was among the key players in a move to reject Merhi as a candidate for Freeholder.

Congressman Bill Pascrell, who supported Merhi's Freeholder bid, issued a statement today saying: "I unequivocally condemn any organization that commits acts of terrorism, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Any person who thinks differently is flat out wrong."

Passaic County Democrats are meeting tomorrow to decide whether they want to stick with embattled Freeholder candidate Sami Merhi, an Arab-American businessman whose controversial comments about terrorism has caused a deep split among local Democrats and has caused leaders in the Jewish and Arab communities -- in New Jersey and in Washington -- to suddenly pay attention to a race for county office. Last Saturday, the Passaic Democratic organization voted 13-10 to support Merhi over Joanne Graziano, a Hawthorne Board of Education member and a teacher in Paterson.

Within two days, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez and Governor Jon Corzine led a group of Democrats who said that Merhi's remarks at a 2002 political event made it impossible for them to support him, and Passaic County Democratic Chairman John Currie quickly called for another meeting to discuss the future of Merhi's campaign.

Merhi has now publicly said that there is "no way" he made the comments attributed to him in the New York Times article -- though the fact that it took him a full four years to accuse the New York Times of inventing its story make his current allegations appear less than credible.

Congressman Bill Pascrell, who was Merhi's chief advocate during the candidate selection process, publicly stood by Merhi -- but privately, Pascrell, under pressure from key Democrats and Jewish community leaders, has sent strong signals that he would not mind seeing Merhi drop his Freeholder bid.

Arab American leaders say that dumping Merhi was discrimination, and the Herald News has suggested that Democrats keep Merhi and let the voters decide if they want to elect him -- not necessarily a solid plan, one strategist said, since the politically impotent Passaic County GOP has shown no signs of mounting a strong campaign.

Assemblyman Gary Schaer, an Orthodox Jew from Passaic, offered his own compromise to fellow Democrats: dump Merhi because of his comments, but replace him with another Arab American. Currie, who had backed Graziano initially, appears to be leaning toward supporting her again.

Passaic County Democrats have picked a controversial Arab American businessman who got in trouble four years ago for defending suicide bombers in Israel to run for an open seat on the Board of Freeholders. Sami Merhi, a Democratic fundraiser close to Congressman Bill Pascrell who also publicly compared former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to Adolph Hitler, was selected on Saturday to run for the open seat of Lois Cuccinello. Merhi's comments, made at a Pascrell fundraiser and covered by the New York Times, caused Democrats to rally against Merhi when he sought party support for Freeholder in 2004.