TEANECK, N.J. — Teaneck’s November council race took shape in August as the filing deadline passed, with nine candidates competing for four seats and old political alliances giving way to a crowded field.
The four-seat race includes incumbent Councilwomen Denise Belcher and Hillary Goldberg, who are seeking reelection, and seven newcomers: Avi Berliner, Sharon Kolb, Amrit Ramjattan, George Fernandez, Duane Harley, Crystal Pressley and Howard Rose.
Two current deputy mayors, Danielle Gee and Elie Y. Katz, are not seeking reelection. The seven-member council will ultimately choose the mayor and deputy mayors from among its members after the election.
Mayor Mark Schwartz, Councilwoman Karen Orgen and Councilman and former Mayor Michael Pagan are not up this cycle.
Schwartz has made little secret of his support for the three-candidate “ONE TEAM ONE TEANECK” slate of Berliner, Kolb and Ramjattan. In August, he went a step further, advertising his “endorsement” on Facebook despite the candidates being widely understood to have been recruited, funded and run with the backing of the Schwartz political machine.
That made the “endorsement” look less like a political revelation than a campaign stunt designed to put an official label on an already well-known relationship.
The slate’s candidates have largely been introduced through their previous township service and community backgrounds. Berliner’s bio points to his leadership of the Fields Advisory Board and Municipal Open Space Trust Fund Board, while Facebook Live appearances with Katz and Schwartz have highlighted renovations at Sagamore Park.
Ramjattan’s bio emphasizes his engineering and infrastructure background and work on the Zoning Board, while a Facebook Live appearance with Katz and Schwartz focused on road and bridge infrastructure near Fairleigh Dickinson University and the Hackensack River.
Those board appointments came through the current council, where Schwartz has been a central political force.
Kolb, meanwhile, brings decades of community involvement and longstanding relationships across Teaneck, particularly within the town’s Jewish and civic communities. A longtime educator and community volunteer, she has served with local organizations including the Teaneck Chamber of Commerce, the Bergen County Jewish Action Committee and the Teaneck Democratic Municipal Committee, and has spent years working with community organizations and causes across Teaneck.
Alliances Fracture
Just last week, on his Facebook group Teaneck United, Quron Gee, a prominent community activist and the husband of outgoing Deputy Mayor Danielle Gee, opened a front against incumbent Councilwoman Hillary Goldberg.
Gee posted that eight of the nine council candidates appeared to be “viable, well-intentioned individuals” who genuinely wanted to serve Teaneck, deliberately leaving Goldberg out of the assessment. In comments made on the post by Gee and some of the Schwartz-machine campaign surrogates, it became clear the candidate omitted was Goldberg.
Gee said he had avoided publicly discussing his objections to Goldberg out of respect for his wife, who had served alongside her, but now planned to have an “honest conversation” with Teaneck voters ahead of the election.
The split is notable because Gee and Goldberg were once political allies and ran together in the previous council cycle, alongside Belcher, on a platform centered on holding Schwartz and his political machine accountable.
That alliance fractured during the current term, with their political constituencies increasingly taking different positions on international issues brought before the council. The divide became particularly visible after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, when Goldberg worked to introduce and back a symbolic resolution supporting Israel while Gee and Belcher pushed to include pro-Palestinian language or develop another resolution for the pro-Palestine camp.
Goldberg’s Opponents Aren’t Just the Gees
Goldberg’s opponents are not restricted to the Gees.
Surrogates and allies associated with the Schwartz machine have also begun taking aim at the incumbent as she seeks another term.
The political history between Goldberg and Schwartz goes back to before Goldberg’s election. She challenged Schwartz and the council in court in cases focused on state laws governing government openness and accountability, winning each time. Holding Schwartz and the council accountable became a central part of Goldberg’s initial council-run and her political identity on the council.
Katz Keeps His Cards Close
Katz has, to date, stopped short of openly endorsing a candidate, but his Facebook Live videos have repeatedly highlighted the credentials of the lesser-known candidates on the “ONE TEAM ONE TEANECK” slate.
In appearances featuring Berliner and Ramjattan, Katz and Schwartz, who appeared alongside his candidates as they discussed local projects, focused on Berliner's committee's work on the Sagamore Park renovations and Ramjattan's committee's work on road and bridge infrastructure near Fairleigh Dickinson University and over the Hackensack River.
For now, Katz has not officially put his name behind any of the candidates.
The November race now features a familiar political divide, but not necessarily the same alliances that defined the last election: Goldberg and Belcher are seeking reelection, seven new candidates are entering the mix and two sitting deputy mayors are stepping aside.
With the filing deadline behind them, the political maneuvering that defined August is likely to become much more visible heading into November.
