Republicans Make Their Case in Bergen County
- Jay Costa
- Aug 22
- 2 min read
By Fred Snowflack | August 21, 2025, 5:01 pm | in The Diner Booth
Putting partisanship aside, you have to admire people who run for county commissioner.
Changing the name from freeholder a few years ago didn't do much at all to make the office more visible to the public. The name "freeholder," was, at least, different.
Stuck between state and municipal government, county commissioners may be the most unknown of all elected officials. The lack of daily newspaper coverage doesn't help.
"It's like the middle stepchild," says Jay Costa of River Vale, about the county level of government.
For Costa, this is a pressing concern.
He is one of three Bergen County Republicans running against three incumbent Democratic commissioners this year. He and fellow Republicans John Dinice, of Mahwah, and Andrea Slowikowski, of Demarest just kicked off their campaign.The incumbents are Thomas Sullivan, Mary Amoroso and Germaine Ortiz. All three survived a primary challenge in June. In a social media post, they speak of "Keeping Bergen County families safe."
Republicans once dominated Bergen, the most populous county in New Jersey. No more. Democrats now hold all countrywide elected offices - sheriff, clerk, surrogate and the seven commissioners.
Costa, in a recent conversation, acknowledged the difficulty of running for an office many voters know little about. He is far from the only freeholder/commission candidate to grasp that.
This can be particularly daunting in Bergen, which has 70 municipalities. It's sort of home rule on steroids, and for commission candidates, a lot of fire department picnics to get to.
The campaign slogan for the Republican trio is “For an Affordable Bergen County.”
That is no surprise, Jack Ciattarelli is talking about the same thing.
"Everyone sees it, everyone is having trouble," Costa said.
In a release on behalf of all three candidates, the GOP candidates said:
"The 2025 county tax levy has ballooned to $544.41 million, according to available records, which are preliminary and may not be accurate. Included in the tax levy is the cost of the commissioners’ borrowing, which will require debt payments of $105.6 million in the current county budget, an increase of $11 million over 2024. Debt payments are nearly one-fifth of the county budget."
They also mentioned how high costs are driving the young - and the old - out of Bergen County, which is a common Republican lament.
Beyond that, Costa said there is a problem with one-party rule and a need for more transparency.
And he also brought up some particular examples of what he said were strange expenditures. For example, he said that records show that the county's Open Space Trust Fund spent some of its funds to remove both a fence and poison ivy. The main purpose of the fund is to buy and maintain open land.
By any objective analysis, Republicans are going to need a big turnout for Ciattarelli atop the ticket to oust the Democrats. And Team Jack is trying to help.
He has a rally set for Sept. 15 in Fair Lawn, and you can expect more to come.
On that score, Democrats are not asleep. Mikie Sherrill just had a "meet and greet" in Hackensack.
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