The Record
September 12, 2007
Editorial

Politics is about timing. Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero's announcement that the county organization was planning to file a lawsuit challenging New Jersey 's pay-to-play law two months before Election Day made as much sense as nominating Britney Spears Mother of the Year.

The Record
September 11, 2007
By Oshrat Carmiel

Joseph Ferriero, the Bergen County Democratic chairman, on Monday postponed his bid to kill New Jersey's pay-to-play law until after November's legislative elections.

Ferriero said he wanted to consult with the rank and file of the county Democratic Organization before filing a suit challenging a law designed to sever the perceived link between political donations and government contracts.

The Record
September 11, 2007
By Charles Stile

Joe Ferriero, the Bergen County Democratic Party leader, is sticking to his story.

His abrupt decision Monday to pull the plug on a planned legal challenge to New Jersey's landmark pay-to-play law has nothing to do, he says, with the Democratic Party's latest public relations fiasco -- the arrest of 11 public officials, including two Democratic state assemblymen, on bribery charges.

The Record
September 9, 2007
By Charles Stile

A battle over New Jersey pay-to-play laws could land in federal court later this month.

But another skirmish is already planned Monday night on Main Street in Hackensack.

The 5 p.m. Bergen County Democratic Organization executive committee meeting is shaping up -- again -- as a showdown between Chairman Joe Ferriero and state Sen. Loretta Weinberg.

The Record
September 6, 2007
By Charles Stile

Joe Ferriero's planned takedown of New Jersey's marquee campaign finance law has ignited calls for change -- although not exactly the kind he had in mind.

The Record
September 4, 2007
By Elise Young

Three of six Bergen County candidates for state Legislature have qualified for grants from Clean Elections, the $7.6 million taxpayer-financed experiment to reduce special interests' influence on New Jersey politics.

Campaigns & Elections
By Tom Jennemann
August 31, 2007

A Bergen County lawyer's comments that the state's pay-to-play restrictions are unconstitutional appears to have widened the rift between the Bergen County Democratic Organization and state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, and could give the GOP ammunition going into the November elections.

The Record
August 30, 2007
By Charles Stile

Joe Ferriero has never disguised his disgust for New Jersey's pay-to-play bans on campaign contributions.

Bergen County's top Democratic power broker would love nothing better than to watch a judge cut those restrictions to ribbons -- much like the way he swiftly diced a pair of poached eggs at a Hackensack diner on Wednesday.