A stinging Democratic primary in Passaic County threatens to upend control of the county’s Democratic organization.
After Sheriff Richard Berdnik fatally shot himself in January with almost two years remaining in his term, his predecessor, Jerry Speziale, announced that he would seek his old job in the Democratic primary. Now the Paterson public safety director, Speziale faces Thomas Adamo, a career law enforcement official and the son of a former Republican freeholder.
With name recognition and a $500,000 warchest left over from 2010, Speziale was instantly a formidable candidate in a planned off-the-line candidate campaign; when U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi tossed the line in favor of office block ballots, the lesser-known Adamo lost his greatest asset.
The greatest threat to longtime Passaic County Democratic Chairman John Currie comes in a race for three county commissioner seats, where three candidates running with Speziale face the organization-backed candidates: incumbents John Bartlett and Sandi Lazzara and their running mate, Rodney De Vore. The other incumbent seeking re-election, Nicolino Gallo, is a Republican.
Passaic is the only county in the state where Democratic county commissioner slates are bracketed together on the ballot. Sean Duffy, Derya Taskin, and Pedro Liranzo appear in the top three spots on the office block ballots using the “Team Speziale Democrats for Passaic County” slogan.
Duffy is the son of longtime County Commissioner Terry Duffy. If the entire Speziale team were to win, that could mean the end to a regime Currie assembled piece by piece since taking over the party chairmanship in the 1990s when Republicans had a 7-0 majority.
Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop has been helping Speziale – with Currie likely to go with either Josh Gottheimer or Mikie Sherrill in next year’s gubernatorial primary – and could find himself with substantial support in Passaic County in 2025. Speziale has also secured several labor union endorsements, including the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 825 and the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters.
Adamo, who has won endorsements from Gov. Phil Murphy, U.S. Senator Cory Booker, and Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson), has accused Speziale of making false claims about both of their records. He has denied allegations that as a former Republican, he voted for Donald Trump. Democrats have taken to calling Speziale “MAGA Jerry.”
In turn, Speziale has criticized Adamo for allegations of workplace harassment at the Passaic County Sherriff’s office, where he is a chief.
A former New York City Police detective, Speziale had won three sheriff races in the early 2000s. After Edwin Englehardt, a nine-term Republican, resigned under an ethical cloud, Democrats picked Speziale to take on acting Sheriff Ronald Fava, a former assemblyman, Passaic County Prosecutor, and Paterson municipal court judge. Speziale won an especially bitter campaign by less than one percentage point. He was re-elected in 2004 with 75% of the vote; Republicans didn’t bother to run someone against him in 2007.
In 2010, Speziale left the sheriff’s post for a job as the deputy superintendent of the Port Authority Police Department. Adamo has characterized the circumstances of Speziale’s hiring as a dirty political deal with Republican Gov. Chris Christie, and for his past support of Republicans, but wrongly alleges an FBI investigation into the matter.
He mulled running against Berdnik in 2019.
