Wyckoff Mayor Won't Seek County GOP Chairmanship: Report

WYCKOFF, NJ - Mayor Kevin Rooney said recently he will not seek chairmanship of the Bergen County Republican Organization (BCRO).

Rooney announced after the November election that he intended to challenge fellow township resident and current Chairman Bob Yudin for the position.

Rooney reversed on that course of action Tuesday at a BCRO meeting when he said that that party was no longer united or respected.

Rooney said that the party is broken and that the distrust, mockery, and continued losses to Democrats must stop, NorthJersey.com reported.

"We have a responsibility here in Bergen County to our party and its citizens to win this November," Rooney said in the report.

Rooney was re-elected to another three-year term on the Township Committee in November. He was sworn in to a second consecutive term as mayor in January, the first time that happened since the early 1970s.

There was some political in-fighting last year when Yudin's wife Susan unsuccessfully for a spot on the committee. She ran uncontested in the Republican primary last spring, but Rooney declined to run on the ticket with her in the General Election. Yudin lost to Thomas Madigan, a former Republican committeeman who ran as an independent.

Bob Yudin said that the party's only chance to win in Bergen County is if "we're unified," NorthJersey.com reported.

Photo: Mayor Kevin Rooney/Patch file photo