Flight 2008 to Bandwagon Now Boarding
Posted on | October 23, 2007
Holy fair-weather friends, Batman! In a New Jersey city of less than 20,000 residents,
…[T]he entire membership of the all-Republican governing body in Lyndhurst will switch from Republican to Democrat tomorrow. Nearly 60% of Lyndhurst’s Republican County Committee will become Democrats too.
The party realignment, first reported in PoliticsNJ.com last summer, is far greater in scope than speculated. It represents, perhaps, the most massive shift in Party affiliation of elected and Party officials in a single community in one day. “It’s safe to say something like this certainly doesn’t happen in politics everyday,” said Lyndhurst Mayor Richard DiLascio.
Lyndhurst has long been considered a swing town in general elections over the last twenty years.
A press release announcing the switch notes: “the virtual gutting of the Republican organization here will make the Township a reliable ally for Democratic state Senator Paul Sarlo, and Assemblymen Fred Scalera and Gary Schear, as well as Democrats running county-wide. This year, Sarlo’s Republican opponent is from Lyndhurst. This shift likely cripples any hope he may have had for victory.” This appears to be a highly accurate analysis.
State Senator Paul Sarlo and Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero will attend a press conference announcing the switch tomorrow.
It’s difficult not to read something into this possibly isolated incident. One year until the national elections might just be time enough to wash off the GOP stench and save one’s career.
