Berdnik wins 2nd term
By P.T.
Published: November 5, 2013
Richard Berdnik, the incumbent sheriff of Passaic County, has won re-election against Frank Feenan, challenger, a former detective with the county prosecutor’s office.
Berdnik, a Democrat, vastly outspent his Republican challenger by raising more than five times the amount of his opponent. Feenan raised a meager $66,274, as indicated in his campaign report, while Berdnik raised $347,714. In a county that often votes Democratic, Feenan came very close to victory, being off by only 13-percent.
In a nasty campaign where election signs of both parties were defaced, either by vandals or by each other attempting to snatch an edge in the race, both camps stated they were not behind the vandalism. Berdnik published videos of people destroying his campaign signs, after which, the Feenan campaign provided defaced images of the challenger’s campaign yard signs. Both sides stated they were the victims of sign destruction not the perpetrator.
Preliminary numbers, 94-percent counted, show Feenan with 38,719 votes and his rival with 50,428 ballots. With majority of the votes counted Feenan will not be able to fill the gap, even if he manages to grab the left-over 6-percent that would not be enough for him to win a victory; therefore, Berdnik has won a second term in office.