On Tuesday, March 8, members of the Leonia Democratic Municipal Committee (LDMC) participated in the countywide meeting at which Lou Stelatto was elected Chairman of the Bergen County Democratic Organization. Mr. Stelatto attended a recent meeting of the LDMC at which he spoke of his vision for the county organization and answered questions from the committee members. He explained how he got involved in Democratic politics, beginning in 1982, and served as a municipal committeeman, councilman, and mayor of Lyndhurst. He has been the Chair of the Lyndhurst DMC for the past 20 years. Mr. Stelatto shared that this was a good time for him to assume the county chair position, as his grown children were now managing his funeral home business.
He explained how he felt the county Democratic organization had lost sight of its mission in recent years and become known more for its corruption than for representing the ideals of the party. He wants to return to the “grass roots” efforts of the past in running elections, which the LDMC shared was how they had won their election in 2010. He plans to eliminate “pay-to-play” cash accepted from around the state that funded recent overspent county campaigns that relied heavily on New York TV ads. His plan is to do more targeted, less expensive local media spending and more “door-to-door” campaigning from the bottom up at the local level.
Mr. Stelatto said that we would not use the county chair position to interfere with the work of local DMCs. However, he would rely on the local committees to build campaign support for all Democratic candidates. In an effort to involve more people, he will be looking to the local DMCs for people to participate on policy, campaign strategy and recruiting committees.
After he left, the LDMC members briefly discussed their response to Mr. Stelatto’s presentation. Some of the feedback shared was that he appeared to be honest and sincere, he understood what the problems were and had ideas to address them, he was interested in ending “pay-to-play” practices, he was willing to empower others to be involved, and that he was a “breath of fresh air” after the last two county chairs. There was consensus within the group that we would support Mr. Stelatto’s election and his term as county chair.
