Star Ledger 9/21: Ruling Backs Zisa's Win in Bergen

It appears that Teaneck Assemblywoman Loretta Weinberg's bid to overturn the results of last Thursday's Bergen County Democratic Committee voting has reached a dead end with a judge's refusal to count five sealed ballots, as reported in today's Star Ledger, though an appeal may be considered. See today's Star Ledger or click on http://tinyurl.com/b6s36 for the article.

Ruling backs Zisa's win in Bergen Wednesday, September 21, 2005 BY ANA M. ALAYA Star-Ledger Staff

A Superior Court judge refused to open five uncounted ballots in the Bergen County Democratic Party's vote to fill the 37th Legislative District Senate seat, upholding Hackensack Police Chief Charles "Ken" Zisa's narrow victory.

The decision was a blow for Assemblywoman Loretta Weinberg, who narrowly lost the bid to fill the seat of retiring Sen. Byron Baer in a 114-110 vote. By one vote, 112-111, she also lost the nomination to run on the November ballot.

In his late afternoon decision, Judge Peter Doyne upheld the decision of the election mediator, Rep. Steve Rothman (D-9th Dist.), to disqualify five ballots of Tenafly Democratic Committee members, believed to be Weinberg supporters.

Rothman had excluded the votes from the tally because the names of the members were not forwarded to the Bergen County Democratic Organization until the day before the vote, violating a 30-day notice rule.

"Primarily, he (Rothman) determined that the purpose of the Bergen County Democratic Organization's by-law requiring thirty (30) days notice was to prevent mistakes in voter eligibility at the convention" and to prevent "countless, new opportunities for fraud," said the judge's decision.

Zisa said he was satisfied with Doyne's ruling. "We felt all along that we were right on the law and I think the judge's decision reflected that," he said.

Zisa also said the judge's decision was consistent with decades of case law principles that the courts do not interfere in local political party activities.

"There are a lot of reasons for that," Zisa said. "There are almost no cases where a court would be willing to get into the micromanaging of a county political committee. Both parties agreed that Rothman's decisions should be followed. There was no reason to change it."

Weinberg said late yesterday she was conferring with her lawyers as to whether she would appeal the decision.

"If those Tenafly ballots were opened, I would have won this election," Weinberg said.

The assemblywoman said that although she lost the court battle, and the nomination, she felt she made some strides in making the nominating process more fair. Her lawyers successfully challenged several ballots after claiming the voters were ineligible.

The votes last Thursday came after an intraparty battle and public sparring between county Democratic chairman Joseph Ferriero, who backed Zisa, and gubernatorial candidate U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine, who had split with the county boss and backed Weinberg.

Yesterday's judicial decision was another victory for Ferriero.

"I anticipated the results because the organization ran a very fair and equitable election," Ferriero said, "and the court found that that was the case."

© 2005 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with permission.

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