Report Says Democrats Dumping Ganz, Aronsohn to Replace Him as Freeholder Candidate

State political site PolitickerNJ.com is citing multiple anonymous sources that Ridgewood Councilman Paul Aronsohn is being ticketed to take Bergen County Freeholder David Ganz's seat in the November election, which would end his term as Ridgewood councilman far before July of 2012.

Reached for comment Thursday afternoon, Ganz said he didn't know "anything about" plans to bump him by the Democratic Committee of Bergen County (formerly known as the Bergen County Democratic Committee).

"I'm running for re-election," the former Fair Lawn mayor told Patch. "I had a very good return in all the precincts [in the primary election]," he said, adding that he's "never stopped campaigning from the last election three years ago."

Aronsohn, a Democrat who ran against incumbent Republican Congressman Scott Garrett in 2006, told Patch Thursday night that he supports Ganz.

"David Ganz has been a great Freeholder and I support him," Aronsohn said.

The village councilman, elected to the council in 2008 to a four-year-term, declined to respond when asked if he would run should Ganz be forced out.

Ganz, an attorney, has served as Bergen County Freeholder since 2003 and PolitickerNJ's sources cited the need for a changing of the guard in the post-McNerney era as the reason the Democrats would oust the incumbent in November. A more "dynamic" candidate would need to replace Ganz, sources told the site.

Along with Bernadette McPherson of Rutherford, Ganz is the only other Democrat on the board after Republicans swept the November 2010 elections.

McPherson is not running for re-election; Assemblywoman Joan Voss is penciled in to replace her on the 2011 Freeholder ticket.

Things may not get much easier in 2011 for Bergen Democrats. Several sources within the county Republican party are saying the GOP will be throwing big money at the most populated county in the next election, as Christie gears up for a 2012 showdown.

Should Aronsohn step down and take a seat on the Freeholder board in November, a special election could be conducted, though it remains to be seen what impact such a move would have on the Valley Hospital "Renewal" expansion project proceedings, which are scheduled to begin this fall.

County Democratic Chairman Louis J. Stellato on Thursday night denied rumors that Ganz could be ousted as the candidate. 

"No, right now David is very much the candidate. He won the nomination at the convention. He’s the sitting incumbent," Stellato said.