New Jersey’s most populace county, with one of America’s highest tax rate for counties nationwide, has seen two very public examples of Republican infighting.
Family fights, and fights with close friends, can often leave much deeper emotional scars than fighting with someone you don’t really have a close relationship with…such is the fear by some Bergen County Republicans regarding two recent incidents.
A Bergen Record article on Thursday detailed the appointment of Steven D. Wielkotz as auditor with a 4-3 bipartisan vote. Kathleen Donovan, County Executive, wanted to make her own appointment to the position, and believes she has the authority.
While Republican freeholders voting in favor of the auditor showed some dissension, it was the interjection of alleged threats, police reports, and “the word” that garnered most attention.
According to The Record, county administrator -Ed Trawinski-, and chairman of the Hackensack Republican Party – Tom Toscano-, got into a heated conversation… and the conversation ended with Trawinski shouting, “I’m not going to stand here and be threatened that I have to watch my (hiney*).”
The conversation prior to the exclamation about having to “watch my (hiney*)” was not fully disclosed. It may have been that Mr. Toscano had previously been watching Mr. Trawinski’s hiney in the past, and was simply informing Trawinski that this service would no longer be provided.
But, it was assumed by most observers that Trawinski was not referring to an actually monitoring of his hiney, but responding to a metaphorical threat. Trawinski assumed this was a literal threat and believed his hiney was in danger, so he asked for the county police to take a report.
The Record article on Thursday did not address the details of the police report, or whether photographs of Mr. Trawinski’s hiney were taken so as to provide a comparison should something happen to it in the future, but police did respond during the course of the freeholder meeting.
Friday brought revelations of further skin thinning with Bergen County Republicans as a meeting between County Executive Donovan and County Sheriff Saudino ended in a huff.
The meeting never really happened as Cheif Saudino had expected a one-on-one meeting with County Executive Donovan, and Donovan insisted on her chief of staff being at the meeting.
The County Sheriff and County Executive had campaigned together, but have taken opposing views with respect to budgets and studies concerning the County Police and County Sheriff’s department.
Saudino’s goal was apparently to have a one-on-one conversation with Donovan in order to smooth over their differences, and Donovan allegedly implied that a one-on-one meeting was not an option… So Saudino left
While the short exchange between the Republican Saudino and the Republican Donovan had an element of sarcasm, it appears no one’s hiney was ever in danger.
Bergen County Fast Facts:
Bergen County has more people living in it than several states:
Delaware, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont and Wyoming all have less people than Bergen County. (Montana is very close to making this list)
Bergen County makes the top five list of costliest counties nationwide by the Tax Foundation
*Editor’s Note: The word “ass” has been replaced with the word “hiney*” in this article in order to reflect the ridiculous nature of what is being reported.