Newly-minted Councilman Fitzhenry bullish on North Arlington’s 2015

By Matthew Gilson | The Save Jersey Blog

Continuing on with my Election 2015  interview series, Save Jerseyans, this time I had the pleasure of interviewing my favorite councilman in the state of New Jersey, Brian Fitzhenry. I first had the pleasure of meeting Brian when he stepped up to the plate to challenge the million dollar machine, Paul Sarlo, in 2013 and found him to be the most genuine person I have come across in politics.

Over the last few years, Brian has become like a second father to me and I could not have been more happy when he was appointed to the North Arlington to replace Joe Bianchi, who was elected mayor in a landslide last fall over a two-term incumbent. We sat down and discussed the upcoming campaign, the issues facing North Arlington and the Republican Party as a whole.

Meeting at the incredibly packed One Repulik in North Arlington, Fitzhenry pointed to the bar as a symbol of redevelopment in North Arlington and demonstrated his commitment to building North Arlington stronger. He pointed out the stagnation of years of Democratic rule which has left North Arlington trailing behind its neighbors, but noted that things are already starting to change in the short time the Republicans have been in office with many new projects on the way. Republicans, he said, were walking the walking instead of the talking and not much more the Democrats do.

Fitzhenry held back no punches pointing to the failures of his opponent, incumbent Councilman Al Granell. “Al has been there two terms, what in the world has he done? Its’ like ‘What are you doing Al?’ The guy has no record to run other than a decade or so ago he sued EnCap and lost the town two million dollars we had to bond the next thirty years for.”

Discussing redevelopment, Fitzhenry remarked, “Al talks and talks about redevelopment, the man has brought nothing to the town, his claim to fame, other than the failed lawsuit, is that he saved his father in-law’s house from eminent domain. He rambles on and on about eminent domain, someone needs to go him to a time machine because it is not an issue in North Arlington currently.”

We discussed the Democrats anonymous website NAToday.net that frequently criticizes the Republicans and blames them for things they have absolutely no control over. “Usually I shrug it off; NAToday helps us win elections with their non-sense,” but, Fitzhenry continued, “I did actually take the time to respond to their last post which blamed me for a contractor hitting a gas main and if that was not ridiculous enough, tied it into my vote on the budget.” Fitzhenry noted that while North Arlington will see a tax increase this year, it is to make up for almost a decade of shell games and mismanagement by the Democrats and promised little-to-no increase next year once the Republicans have been in control for a full term. Fitzhenry says he does not expect the tax increase to hurt his chances in the fall; he says he believes the residents can see why this year a tax increase was necessary to clean up the finances of the town mismanaged by Granell and company.

I asked Fitzhenry about the recent electoral success of the Republicans and whether he expected it would continue into this year. His answer was a definitive “yes” due to the strength of the Republicans and the weakness of his opponents. He credits the recent electoral success not only to the strength of Republicans but the weakness of Democrats and their inability to connect with the town. North Arlington is already seeing the success of the Republican administration and the growth that is coming to the town. Previously, the Democrats in town were anchored by the electoral strength of Steve Tanelli, now a Bergen County freeholder, who was and still is a personal friend of Fitzhenry and a fellow coach and community volunteer. Fitzhenry noted that the Democratic Party has gone from willing to work with them and trying to better the community to a power hungry group relying on anonymous internet attacks instead of substantive arguments.

Again, Fitzhenry had strong words for Granell, noting, “Al Granell sits on his computer and types up attacks on the Republicans but proposes nothing and, get this, voted against a handicap spot for a child! He has never coached a sport in his life, he has never been involved in anything in the community, his claim to fame is simply being a councilman.”

By contrast, Fitzhenry, the current fire chief among other activities, praised the service to the community of his running mates, Allison Sheedy and Mario Karcic. “Allison and Mario are everywhere, these are pillars of the community, people in a local race want to see the people they are elected have a stake in everything they have a stake in.”

The main priority of the Republican administration, whose elected team aims to sweep to a 6-0 majority (but will maintain control this past this year regardless), seems to be not only the standard stabilization of taxes, but also redevelopment and bringing new businesses to town. In this respect, Republicans have hired former head of the Meadowlands Commission, Bob Ceberio, as a consultant and the town is already seeing dividends. The Democrats have criticized the move, but like most things in North Arlington, only for being a Republican idea.

“Bob is already paying dividends, people will see in the next few months we are about to see an influx of new business to the town,” explained Fitzhenry promising that, by the November election, the results would be so clear that he predicts an even bigger victory than the landslide last year.

Brian is a tremendous guy, and his team on the council are equally great. Mayor Joe Bianchi, along with Councilmen Rich Hughes, Dan Pronti and Councilwoman Kerry Cruz, will lead North Arlington into the coming years and beyond to becoming a jewel and the citizens will finally not have to question whether they are “Where Bergen County Begins” or “Where Bergen County Ends.”

You can learn more about Brian by visiting his Facebook page here.
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