Slightly over a year ago, when the Hudson County Democratic Committee voted to make Bernard Hartnett county executive in the wake of his predecessor’s sullied resignation, most of the public said: “Bernard who?”
Only people with long political memories recognized Hartnett as one of the people who helped rescue Hudson County from scandals surrounding John V. Kenny in the 1970s. For Democrats seeking to recover from a new emerging scandal as result of the September 2001 resignation of County Executive Robert Janiszewski amidst a federal corruption investigation, Hartnett was the perfect choice. The man who had helped cleanup Hudson County once could be counted to do it again.
Few realized that Hartnett would become the focus of a Democratic civil war that would lead to one of the most bitterly fought primaries in years.
In leaving office last week, Hartnett unfortunately leaves a legacy that will lead to future conflicts as Democrats – fresh from the election of Tom DeGise as the new county executive – gear up for another bitter primary next June. DeGise took over the spot immediately last week, as it was an unexpired term.
Yet despite being caught between political factions, Hartnett said he enjoyed the experience.
“It wasn’t fun 100 percent of the time,” he said. “But I will remember this as a favorable experience. I tried to devote this year so that I would leave the county in better shape than I found it.”
The year saw a Democratic primary battle in June that pitted Hartnett against DeGise for the right to run in this past week’s election against a Republican. Hartnett, backed by Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham, lost out to DeGise, backed by most of the mayors in the county. The political ramifications of that split continue today, and many members of the Jersey City council who backed DeGise are still at odds with Cunningham.
Corruption
Hartnett said the corruption scandals that plagued the county over the last year were sad episodes in the county’s long history, but did not represent the vast majority of elected officials or county workers.
“Not everybody is corrupt,” he said. “Yet everybody gets smeared with the same brush. This county is filled with hardworking and honest people. It is the handful of corrupt people that give everyone else a bad name.”
Hartnett said he had similar concerns as those raised in the U.S. Attorney’s investigations and said the proliferation of “no bid” contracts left the county open to abuse. Under state law, governmental bodies can issue professional service contracts. This is supposedly used to hire those services that can not be easily evaluated by price such as experienced engineering firms or attorneys with significant accomplishments. Unfortunately, in some cases, such contracts are awarded to friends or political supporters without seeking similar qualified professionals. Over the last two years, some of these abuses were modified by the establishing of a Contracts Committee by the Board of Chosen Freeholders – which would pre-qualify professionals and establish a pool from which the county can seek bids or proposals.
In his Democratic primary campaign earlier this year, Hartnett said there are still many more areas that need to be examined, and that Hudson County will not be free of temptation.
Hartnett said that during his term he made significant contributions to the county, despite the political turmoil that made headlines. Such areas of improvement included changes to the Hudson County Pension Fund, revamping the county’s web site and establishing of a county newsletter, the development of plans to establish a Convention and Tourism Department, a decrease in county taxes in this year’s budget, support of minority and women owned business, requiring a living wage for workers employed by companies doing business with the county, and the expansion of the Hudson County Community College into Journal Square in Jersey City. While most of the freeholders could claim equal credit for these things, they occurred during Hartnett’s administration and often were initiated by his office.
“I tried to get government to do things that people couldn’t do for themselves,” Hartnett said.
His administration, however, was also marred in continuing conflicts with the freeholders that often ended up in court. Hartnett sought to remove people from jobs only to find freeholders reinstating them. Some of the removals were said to be as political as the reinstatements. The most recent battle was postponed in court this week over the county executive’s right to appoint members to the Hudson County Schools of Technology board without seeking freeholder approval.
Hartnett said he thought he had reformed the Hudson County Improvement Authority, but believes the board has returned to doing business the way it had before Hartnett’s arrival.
“I think that will be one of the challenges the new county executive will face,” Hartnett said.
In leaving, Hartnett left this advice for Tom DeGise:
“Be your own man,” he said. “Don’t let other people make judgments for you. You must be in charge.”