Ferriero's War Chest

Oshrat Carmiel of the Record, who sadly is leaving for Bloomberg, delivers yet again in holding BCDO boss Joe Ferriero accountable. It seems Ferriero has one heck of an unregulated slush fund.

Ferriero has maintained and controlled a fund called “Ferriero for County Chairman” since 2004, according to four years of disclosure forms he filed with the Internal Revenue Service last month.

The fund — which is not subject to state campaign disclosure laws because Ferriero is not a publicly elected official — collected tens of thousands in unlimited donations from some of the county’s and state’s biggest professional contractors. They include partners in the Teaneck law firm of DeCotiis Fitzpatrick Cole & Wisler, PMK Group and Neglia Engineering.

This is a loophole that needed to be closed yesterday. As a county and a state we cannot have faith that our leaders are serving our best interests when this sort of activity persists. Every decision is brought into question, and with good reason.

When the party boss can solicit funds to host meet and greets between his chosen and the donors they need in the name of his Committee Chairmanship re-election fund, the old wink & nod is clearly at play here. Taxpayers end up suffering because of it.

As a state we have the highest tax burden in the nation, and so long as we turn a blind eye to this garbage it won't get any better.