With the decision of incumbent Freeholder Barry Dugan not to seek reelection, voters will be faced with a choice of three candidates on Nov. 8. Independent Democrat Denis Wilbeck and Republican David Solari will challenge Doreen M. DiDomenico, who is backed by the Hudson County Democratic Organization.
Wilbeck and Solari ran for the seat in 2002. This is DiDomenico’s first attempt to win the seat.
Doreen M. DiDomenico
DiDomenico comes to the election as a political newcomer, although she has a significant track record for public involvement. She has spent the last five years as a member of Bayonne’s non-elected Board of Education where she believes she learned enough as a legislator to deal with issues she might face as a freeholder.
A clinical psychologist, DiDomenico has worked as a behavioral specialist for Rutgers University for more than 12 years.
She said she is running for the office of freeholder to continue her service to the community and to provide Bayonne with a strong voice in county government.
Despite the support of the HCDO, DiDomenico said she intends to vote her own mind when it comes to issues she will face as a freeholder.
DiDomenico said she had no political agenda.
“I’m not a career politician and I have no political power goals,” she said. “I remain a psychologist because I love that kind of work. I am running for what I think are all the right reasons, to hear the people in District 1 and to represent them.”
Since announcing her candidacy earlier this year, DiDomenico has been a fixture at freeholder meetings.
“I go to the meeting to get a heads up on the issues,” she said, “although I have been talking with Barry [incumbent Freeholder Dugan] and the mayor [Joseph Doria] about what’s on their minds.”
She said she intends to continue Dugan’s efforts to get repairs done to Stephen Gregg Park waterfront walkway.
“Barry has been a good representative for Bayonne. He has a good reputation,” she said. “I’ll have a different style. I’d like focus on communication. A lot of people in our community don’t know what county government does – where the money goes, and I’ll tell them what a freeholder does and why what gets done at a freeholder meeting is relevant to people’s lives.”
DiDomenico said she believes she will bring a fresh perspective to the freeholders and hopes to look at the issues there with fresh eyes.
“I’m not afraid to voice my opinions,” she said. “I have a lot of background. I even run a public speaking workshop teaching people to speak without raising defenses or barriers.”
She said she has already learned a lot from attending meetings.
“I like [Freeholder] Bill O’Dea. He is outspoken,” she said with a laugh.
While she doesn’t particularly want to push women into government, she thinks the Board of Freeholders needs a woman’s perspective. Currently there are no women on the board, something she hopes her election will change.
She also is very conscious of the history of corruption that has plagued the county over the last few years.
“I pay my taxes and I want to make certain those taxes are being used well,” she said. “I want that body to do their job with integrity and honesty. While we may not always agree, we have to always do the right thing.”
To help provide more time for her duties as freeholder, if elected, she will work part-time at Rutgers.
Denis Wilbeck
Wilbeck said he wanted to become part of the decision-making programs on a county level.
He said many of the reasons are the same today as when he ran three years ago, especially the matter of keeping taxes from climbing.
While he refrained from attacking DiDomenico, Wilbeck said that working for an organization often means that you are more dedicated to the interest of the organization than the people who elected you.
“I think Doreen is a fine person, but she is backed by Hudson County Democratic Organization.”
“People are looking for someone who can put the brakes on tax increases,” he said. “I know that you can’t stop them.”
He pointed to the fact that three weeks after being reelected three years ago, Dugan voted along with other freeholders to increase taxes throughout the county and in Bayonne.
“I’m not an organization candidate,” he said. “I’m nobody’s yes man. As freeholder I would represent all the people.”
Wilbeck said anyone seeking to be freeholder should be telling people what he or she will do.
“You have to be concerned with people who can’t afford to pay rent,” he said.
Wilbeck sees his possible position as a freeholder as a problem solver. As a freeholder, he would have access to greater number of resources through which he could provide help to people.
Access to various departments would allow him to provide people with needed resources and perhaps provide Bayonne kids with needed jobs.
“Some of our kids may not be aware that jobs exist,” he said.
Since Bayonne pays $54 million to $60 million in county taxes each year, he would fight to make certain Bayonne gets its fair share of services.
If elected, Wilbeck said he would seek ways of dealing with stabilizing taxes.
Wilbeck claimed Bayonne does not currently get all the services it pays for, such as regular patrols of Stephen Gregg Park by county police. While some municipalities get significant use of county transportation such as bus service, Bayonne residents get trips to the supermarket.
Wilbeck said it is important for a freeholder to be more hands-on than in the past, going out to meet the people, something Wilbeck said he has been doing in his door-to-door campaign. He also criticized lack of information – claiming the county issues an expensively produced newsletter dealing with recycling, but not about programs that will find people jobs or other more essential services.
Wilbeck is a lifelong resident of Bayonne who attended St. Vincent de Paul School and Bayonne High School before entering the United States Army in 1967. In 1971, he graduated from Jersey City State College. He currently serves as a vice principal at Bayonne High School; he has been employed by the school district for 33 years.
“I’ve always worked,” he said, “and I hope to do more to help people who live here.”
A lifelong Democrat, he believes that his administrative skills in the school district and his position as a trustee for interscholastic competitions has given him the tools he needs to make a good freeholder
“As a teacher for 22 years and administrator after that I have dealt with people in all walks of life,” he said. “I have had to deal with governmental agencies and problem solving as well as finance.”
Wilbeck said he would love to model himself after former Freeholder Sammy Kaye, who was known as “The Fighting Freeholder,” and someone who stood up for Bayonne’s interests on the county level.
David Solari
David Solari does not see himself as an “anti-candidate,” despite being a lifelong Republican in a city that is predominantly Democratic.
“I’ve been a registered Republican since I was 18 years old,” he said during a recent interview. “This often caused arguments around election time with my father who said I had to vote Democratic.”
His father once got angry when Solari in one election voted against then-Assemblyman Joseph Doria in the mid-1980s.
“I promised my father – God bless his soul – that I would always vote for Joe Doria and since then I have kept that promise,” Solari said.
Yet Solari said Bayonne has 3,000 registered Republicans and a mixture of Democrats and Independents, who are not satisfied with the total control Democrats wield over government in Hudson County, and part of his platform is to help bring another perspective to county government.
A lifelong resident of Bayonne, the self-employed Solari ran for freeholder in 2001 against incumbent Dugan, narrowly losing. Now with two Democrats facing off against each other, Solari sees his chances as good for taking the seat in an open election.
In seeking election in District 1, Solari believes he represents a substantial number of people – Republicans, Independents and Democrats, who support Republican ideas. He said that there needs to be a change in government and that his election will be part of that change.
“People complain that government should change, but they have to do it for themselves by voting,” he said.
In looking to the past, Solari said he would like to become a freeholder like former Freeholders Neil Carroll or Phil Connolly, both he believes “went to bat for Bayonne” on a county level.
“They protected Bayonne interests,” he said. “We pay a bulk of the county taxes and yet we do not get our share of services.”
While he said it would be unrealistic to expect a cut in taxes, Solari said stabilizing taxes and making sure Bayonne gets the services it deserves would be on his agenda. He believes that if the county gets state and federal grants, an equal share of that should be used for projects in Bayonne.
In his platform, Solari has called for a review of services offered to Bayonne residents to make certain Bayonne is getting its share. He also proposes doing an audit of the county budget with an eye on emphasizing efficiency. He said the county should do away with patronage, and hire people on their ability instead of hiring political supporters. He said a review of salaries should be made in order that hardworking county workers should receive a livable salary, but unnecessary jobs should be eliminated.