Something to think about when watching the brewing feud between Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero and State Senator Loretta Weinberg: is history doomed to repeat itself?
The Republican starnglehold over Bergen County politics in the 1960's began to crack in 1970 after a bitter feud between Republican State Chairman Nelson Gross, a former Assemblyman and Bergen County GOP Chairman, and the most popular votegetter in Bergen County, Sheriff Joe Job. The war become so intense that when Gross ran for the United States Senate in 1970 (Republicans controlled state government and Gross was viewed as a major contender against incumbent Harrison Williams), Job filed as an Independent. Williams won the county by about 30,000 votes — about the same number of votes cast for Job.
Two years later, Bergen County Democratic Chairman Matthew Feldman took advantage of the Republican split convincing Job to switch parties and run for re-election as a Democrat. And Job brought along his brother, Gil Job, the Bergen County Surrogate. Despite huge pluralities for Richard Nixon and Clifford Case in Bergen County in the 1972 general election, Job and Job won easily.
Joe Job won re-election in 1975 and 1978 and served until his retirement in 1981. He returned to the GOP in 1983 when he ran an unsuccessful campaign against his longtime friend, State Senator Joseph Hirkala. Gil Job remained as a Democrat until he retired in 1992 (and was succeeded by Steven Rothman).
