By Katie Cericola
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I ran for Bergen County Freeholder last year. There were many obstacles in running: raising money, building name recognition, and convincing people a 25 year old could be entrusted to represent nearly a million people with a half a billion dollar budget. However, the greatest obstacle was explaining to people just exactly what a Freeholder is.
This conversation was one that I had many times on the campaign trail. In all those conversations, never did anyone suggest, imply or state that somehow that the term “Freeholder” was racist or sexist. However, in the race to be the “wokest,” New Jersey Democrats now think Freeholder needs to go away. Never mind the fact the term derives merely from the English term “freehold” meaning land which is owed free and clear as opposed to a “copyhold.”
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Was the ability to hold this office restricted to white male property owners at first? Yes. That was merely an antiquated system; it was also the way our first presidents were elected. Should the term “President” go away? What about “Senator” from the Latin “senex” meaning literally “old man”? This is the problem with mass hysteria: it removes any rhyme or reason and just looks for the next thing to be offended. This is something that I can assure you: when I ran for the office not one person was ever offended by the term.
I read one sponsor of this initiative suggested that the term prevented women running for office. That was news to me as someone who ran for Freeholder. More interestingly, until this ludicrous debate began I never even gave a thought to where the strange term came from. Nothing about my ability to run or my chances to win would have changed if I was running for “County Commissioner”
As is usually the case in New Jersey, the devil is in the details and those details usually involve tax dollars. That is why the New Jersey Democrats are so quick to embrace this idea. For starters, most New Jersey Democrats are about as “progressive” as Archie Bunker so that clearly was not the reason. The real reason is money.
It may seem like a simple change but logistically it is not. Monmouth County Freeholder Tom Arnone referred to this idea in 2018 as an unfunded mandate. Why? Counties would absorb the costs of printing all new signs and materials to change from Freeholder to County Commissioner.
What does that mean? It means the chance to reward politically connected printers and other vendors with lucrative contracts to make the changes. As if my County Clerk was not printing enough calendars, now this!
It seems inevitable that this change will occur. Just remember it’s not about being “woke” for New Jersey Democrats; they’re far more adept at making you broke.
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Katie Cericola of Waldwick, NJ is works for a Big Four accounting firm and is a graduate from Seton Hall University where she obtained a BS and Masters in Professional Accounting. Katie formerly served as the Vice Chairwoman of the College Republicans.
