Other election matters

With no municipal elections in Teaneck next week, most Teaneck residents will be heading to polling stations to choose between Menendez and Kean (or as the Menendez campaign would have it, Menendez and Bush). While there, however, they will also be asked to cast a vote for Bergen County Executive. The incumbent, Dennis McNerney, the only Democrat ever elected to the post, points to a number of modest achievements in the area of cost control through shared services, open space preservation, and programs for seniors as the reasons he should be re-elected. The challenger, Todd Caliguire, promises major ethics reforms at the county level and significant cuts in spending by compelling the state to pay for services it mandates the county to provide.

Stop a dozen Teaneck voters on the street and I would bet at least nine wouldn't be able to furnish even the basic information contained in the brief and incomplete summaries of the candidates' platforms above. Despite the fact that Bergen County spends several hundred million dollars of taxpayer funds every year, its position in the forgotten middle renders it transparent to most citizens. Too far from home to garner the attention that municipal government receives and too small and insignificant to command the media attention that state government gets, county government is largely ignored.

According to McNerney, Bergen County is using its budget and influence responsibly to dispense necessary services in the community. According to Caliguire, county government has become the piggy bank and plaything of a small number of insiders who use personal contacts and campaign contributions to win no-bid contracts and enrich themselves at the expense of taxpayers.

Few of us in Teaneck have the perspective to opine on the candidates' very different perspectives on the management of county government. The brief glimpses we have gotten of McNerney on our own local scene suggest that perhaps he is steeped in the culture of political machinations, as his opponents allege. His attempted intervention in a local zoning matter last spring raised the hackles of many who want to keep Teaneck free of the sickness that afflicts much of the New Jersey political scene. But is suspicion of McNerney enough to support the opposition?

Caliguire's claims that he will push a large number of county expenditures back onto state government may strike many as far-fetched, if not altogether ridiculous, given the state's fiscal position. However, his promises to reduce conflicts of interest by focusing on government controls seem to be not only practicable, but rather desirable, precisely because of the nature of county government.

While Caliguire may think county government can be largely eliminated, it is, for now at least, a necessary evil. That is all the more reason a substantial investment ought to be made in cleaning it up. McNerney's progress on shared services, while certainly welcome, seems to be doing little to check spending and appears to be accompanied by significant perks for contributors, an unacceptable outcome even if only for the appearance of impropriety it creates. County government, already hidden from view, should do all it can to operate honestly and efficiently. It does not appear to be doing so just yet. It may be worth casting a vote for change.