McNerney becomes first Democrat elected county executive

BYLINE: ADAM LISBERG, STAFF WRITER

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Bergen County voters elected their first-ever Democratic county executive Tuesday, choosing Dennis McNerney over his Republican challenger after a multimillion-dollar campaign that broke all spending records in county races.

McNerney defeated Republican Henry P. McNamara, a veteran state senator, on the same day that two Democratic freeholder candidates swept into power as well.

With 553 of 554 districts reporting, McNerney had 117,563 votes, compared with McNamara's 107,379.

The results will put Democrats solidly in control of the levers of power in Bergen County government.

The prospect thrilled hundreds of party faithful who crowded into the Hasbrouck Heights Hilton to celebrate Tuesday night.

"Three words: We did it!" McNerney roared to the cheering crowd. "We have an opportunity to add new energy and perspective after 16 years of one-party control in Bergen County."

Democrats say they will work to reduce congestion on Bergen County's roads, make county government more responsive to residents, and reform the county's campaign finance rules.

McNerney said Democrats had earned the right to run the county after years of frustrating, failed campaigns. With the party also gaining control of the Freeholder Board, he said, "We can have easier implementation of all the things we campaigned about."

At the somber Republican headquarters in Hackensack, McNamara said he was defeated by a Democratic machine that raised millions of dollars from outside Bergen County to pay for negative campaigns against him.

"That's what it boils down to - the dough," McNamara said. "For me to raise that kind of money, I'd have to compromise my principles. And that's never going to happen."

At the Democratic celebration, County Chairman Joseph Ferriero was engulfed in a cauldron of backslaps and hugs, but took time to deny that the money made a difference.

"It has nothing to do with money," Ferriero said. "Democrats represent working families. The working families of Bergen County spoke up tonight. It has nothing to do with money. The people of Bergen County want good government, and they're going to get it."

Democrats shouted, squealed, and jumped in the air as vote totals were posted on a giant screen. A Dixieland jazz band clad in red, white, and blue vests and hats played "Happy Days Are Here Again" in one corner.

"I can't believe it," said longtime Democratic activist Lynne Hurwitz. "It's been so long since we've been in power."

The battle for Bergen County's highest office was vitriolic and expensive, with slick television ads and angry attacks that overshadowed the substantive distinctions between the candidates.

Republicans and Democrats wanted to see one of their own as county executive, a position that oversees 2,500 county employees and a $334 million budget. And with incumbent Republican William "Pat" Schuber stepping down after 12 years in the post, both parties knew they had the rare opportunity to run for an open seat.

The GOP chose an understated but experienced political veteran as its candidate. McNamara, a 67-year-old state senator and retired car dealer from Wyckoff, talked more about solid leadership and his legislative accomplishments than about his priorities for Bergen County.

McNamara pushed to double the county's half-cent tax for open-space preservation, to give a new $5 million communications system to the Bergen County Police Department, and to make unspecified cuts in the county budget. He saved his harshest criticism for the proposed arena in Newark, and said he doesn't want to see Continental Arena turned into a shopping center.

Democrats chose a candidate with a confusingly similar name but a distinctly different demeanor. McNerney, a 35-year-old freeholder and municipal finance banker from Ho-Ho-Kus, has campaigned on a platform of campaign finance reform, stronger land planning to save open space, and more consolidated public services to trim the cost of municipal government in Bergen County.

During the campaign, McNerney said McNamara would face conflicts with his business interests in Wyckoff, and said McNamara would try to hold on to his state Senate seat even if he wins the county race - claims that McNamara denied.

McNamara, in turn, said McNerney is a "puppet" of Bergen County Democrats - in particular Ferriero - who have raised vast sums from big donors, and who will expect McNerney to give them something in return if he wins. McNerney said there was no truth to such claims, and that he would be independent of Ferriero in office.

The candidates' strong run into the final days of the campaign was a stunning turn of events. Democrats seemed to have little momentum a month ago, with a measly $117,000 in the bank - not even half of what McNamara had on hand.

McNamara had sewn up nearly all the key labor endorsements, and rumors were circulating in both parties' camps that Ferriero had given up on McNerney's chances to beat the veteran state senator.

Those rumors quickly ceased Oct. 24 when the Democrats kicked off an estimated $1.5 million ad campaign on New York's major network affiliates. And it became quite clear that rather than giving up, the Democrats were simply biding their time for a surprise attack.

Between Oct. 1 and Nov. 1, the state's biggest Democratic power brokers and other contributors pumped $2 million into the Bergen race, putting it on track to become the most expensive county campaign ever in New Jersey.

Republicans then primed the state's GOP machines, scraping up enough money in the campaign's final days to buy about $250,000 worth of ads on the New York network affiliates. GOP state committee officials kicked in about $350,000, committee spokeswoman Jeanette Hoffman said.

The result was an all-out political war in Bergen County that seemed more fitting for a governor's race, with both parties buying television time and mailing a blizzard of eye-catching fliers to county voters. The size and scope of the effort caught political observers off-guard.

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