BY JOHN SNYDER
OF PASCACK PRESS
PASCACK VALLEY AREA, N.J.—The Bergen County Republican Organization is fielding former Westwood Councilmember Alyssa Dawson and current Woodcliff Lake Councilman Corrado Belgiovine for seats on the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders.
Running with them is Kathleen Cericola of Waldwick.
The three will oppose incumbents Mary Amoroso of Mahwah, Germaine Ortiz of Emerson, and board chairman Thomas J. Sullivan Jr. of Montvale. The seven-member freeholder board is entirely democratic this term.
Dawson, chief of staff to District 39 state Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi (R-River Vale), was appointed to the Westwood Borough Council in June 2018, replacing Councilman Emeritus Peter Grefrath. She lost her first campaign for election to the post last November against Democrat Jodi Murphy.
Dawson worked on Gov. Chris Christie’s staff and was a staffer on Kim Guadagno’s campaign for governor. Guagdano swore Dawson in when she was appointed to the council.
Belgiovine, a real estate broker who has served as council president, will give up his seat to run for the freeholder board.
In his 2016 endorsement letter for Belgiovine’s and Councilwoman Angela Hayes’s re-election to council, Woodcliff Lake Mayor Carlos Rendo wrote in part, “Under their leadership, we succeeded in bringing in $1,000,000 in grant money for our borough, including a $500,000 open space grant—the largest grant in our boroughs’ history—for the purchase of Galaxy Gardens.”
Cericola, chair of the county Young Republicans, works for KPMG in the audit practice.
The ticket overall—new party chairman Jack Zisa’s first—is seen as part of a GOP push for more millennial Republicans in office and at the polls.
Freeholders are elected at-large to three-year staggered terms. The board sets policy under the Administrative Code authored by the freeholders, who act as the county’s legislative body, giving advice and consent to the actions of the county executive, currently Democrat James J. Tedesco III.
It contracts with municipalities; studies and evaluates the county’s annual budget before approving it; oversees the provision of funds for the nine county departments, including Bergen New Bridge Medical Center; supervises the funds for Bergen Community College, Bergen County Special Services School District, Bergen County Technical Schools, Bergen County Jail and Police Department, and county parks, roads, and bridges.
Dawson said in her announcement that she thanks Zisa “for believing in us and believing in the need for the Republican Party in Bergen County to move forward with new energy and fresh perspectives.”
She said, “I wholeheartedly believe that our team is one that will represent the nearly one million Bergen County residents with an appreciation for diversity and an emphasis on fiscal responsibility.”
Just after she was appointed to the council last year—as the youngest woman to hold office in the Garden State and as an openly gay politician—Dawson told Pascack Press, “The bottom line is, we [millennials] are the future. Unless more young people get involved I don’t see how we can continue to make progress.”
The news follows the announcement by Democrats John Birkner Jr. and Gerald Falotico—mayor of Westwood and Council President in Emerson, respectively—that they are running for New Jersey’s 39th Legislative District, which includes parts of Bergen County and Passaic County and is held by Republicans.
Birkner, who clashed with Dawson over her aggressive introduction of a blanket marijuana ban when she was on the dais, said he would not seek election to a fourth term as mayor as he tries for the Assembly.
This year’s primary is June 4. The general election is Nov. 5.