Election Preview: Bergen County Freeholders

With John Driscoll stepping down after his first term as a Bergen County Freeholder, his former running mate and incumbent candidate Robert Hermansen seeks reelection alongside former River Edge Mayor Margaret Watkins. They will be opposed by Tracy Zur and Steve Tanelli.

Robert Hermansen

Elected to the Board of Chosen Freeholders in November 2009, he is currently the Chairman of both the Law and Public Safety Committee and the Planning and Economic Development Committee; and is on the Budget and Finance Committee, and serves as the Cultural and Historic Affairs Liaison to the Department of Parks.  

Previously he was a Councilman in Mahwah from 2006-2009 having served as the Council Vice President and Liaison to the Board of Education. Robert A Financial Advisor with a major brokerage firm, he has worked in the field of finance since graduating from St. Bonaventure University in 1990, with a degree in Finance.

Margaret Watkins

The former Mayor of River Edge, a position she held for 12 years, she was a Councilwoman in the borough for 10 years prior to taking the Mayor's seat. An ardent advocate for taxpayers and limited government, Peg famously authored a "Letter to Governor Corzine" in 2008 predicting New Jersey's impending financial crisis. She spent a career as a math teacher and is currently an adjunct professor at Lehman College.

Tracy Zur

A Municipal Prosecutor, a former Public Defender, a former Bergen County Judge, Zur was a Commissioner on the Bergen County Utilities Authority, served on the Board of Trustees of Gerrard Berman Day School and is a member of the Jewish Federation Women's Philanthropy Board. She has an undergraduate degree from the University of Texas in Austin, a law degree from Fordham University and is working towards her Masters Degree in Public Administration at Rutgers. 

Steve Tanelli

Considered North Arlington's longest serving elected official, Tanelli was elected to the governing body in 2004, and was easily reelected in 2005, 2008 and again in 2011.

He is the liaison to the North Arlington Police Department and Board of Education; previously served as the town's recreation commissioner and is a former member of the North Arlington/Lyndhurst Joint Sewer Commission.