Bergmanson Bounced From New Jersey Primary Ballot

Carl A. Bergmanson, a former mayor of Glen Ridge, was ruled off the June primary ballot earlier today in his long-shot bid for the Democratic nomination for governor of New Jersey.

Bergmanson’s petitions had been challenged by the Democratic State Committee, along with the nominating petitions for three other candidates hoping to wrest the party’s nomination from State Sen. Barbara Buono, the organization-backed frontrunner.

On Tuesday, Judge Jeff S. Masin tossed out 317 of the 1,281 signatures on Bergmanson’s nominating petitions, leaving him 36 signatures short of the 1,000 valid signatures required.  The vast majority of the stricken signatures were from individuals who weren’t registered to vote while 41 were disqualified because the signers were registered as Republicans.  The signatures of thirty-eight other individuals were ruled invalid because they had also signed the nominating petitions for another gubernatorial candidate.

The New Jersey Division of Elections removed Bergmanson’s name from its official Candidate’s List earlier today.

An obviously disappointed Bergmanson, who had filed several motions in court challenging the Democratic State Committee’s actions, told Uncovered Politics that Buono’s heavy-handed tactics were “an obvious attempt to render the June 4th Democratic primary for governor meaningless by presenting voters with a ‘Soviet-style’ single-candidate ballot.”

The feisty, 52-year-old former mayor also called it a “blatant and unprecedented attack on New Jersey’s primary process and the voting rights of New Jerseyans.

“I think that there is no question that this was a bad strategic decision on her part,” he added.  “Voter suppression and goon-like tactics always hurt the brand.”

A longtime critic of the New Jersey Democratic establishment who once spearheaded a statewide effort to recall then-Gov. Jon Corzine, Bergmanson is a self-described “fiscal conservative” who supports gay marriage and marijuana legalization.  He garnered 17,125 votes, or 8.6%, in the Democratic primary in a previous bid for governor in 2009.

William Araujo of Edison, who withdrew his candidacy in the face of a similar challenge to his nominating petitions earlier this week, and conspiracy theorist and perennial candidate Jeffrey Boss, were also removed from the Democratic primary ballot.

The removal of the three candidates from the ballot leaves little-known Troy Webster of East Orange as Buono’s only primary opponent.  Webster claims he’s running merely to enhance the chances of a better ballot position for East Orange Mayor Robert Bowser, a four-term incumbent who is seeking re-election without organization support.  Webster works as an aide to Mayor Bowser.  Under New Jersey’s byzantine primary election laws, a candidate’s slate must include a candidate for governor in order to have a chance of winning the top ballot position.