About Kathe Donovan
In the 300 year history of Bergen County, Kathleen A. Donovan is the first, and only, woman to serve as an elected Constitutional Officer. First elected in 1988, Kathe, a Republican, is serving her fifth term as Bergen County Clerk.
A Republican, Kathe has declared her candidacy for Bergen County Executive to fight for taxpayers and put them first. Kathe is committed to holding the line on county property taxes, doing more with less and getting taxpayers a lot more value for their tax dollars. Kathe will work to restore fiscal accountability and transparency while providing the best and most efficient services to taxpayers at the lowest possible cost. She will employ a sound, very basic, fiscally conservative, prudent and efficient style of government, working to become a full partner with municipalities who want to break the tax and spend patterns of the past. As the next County Executive, Kathe will restore values that some will say are gone forever from government -- values like trust, integrity, honesty, decency, respect.
Kathe has a proven record of getting results with smaller, more efficient government. She successfully implemented "change" in the Clerk's office long before it became the popular thing to do. In fact, as County Clerk, Kathe brought in $1 billion in revenue through greater government efficiency, which translates to over a $300 savings on average for Bergen families. Under her leadership, the County Clerk's office is now a customer service organization that has brought cost savings to Bergen County taxpayers every single year!
Kathe previously served as a part-time public defender in her hometown of Lyndhurst from 1983 to 1988. From 1986 to 1988, she represented the 36th Legislative District in the General Assembly, and then served as Chair of the New Jersey Republican State Committee from June 1989 to February 1990.
In 1994 Donovan was appointed by then Governor Christine Todd Whitman as a member of the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, where she also served as Chairwoman. There, Donovan was a part-time official overseeing the bi-state agency charged with governing all New Jersey -- New York area ports and airports, including LaGuardia Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport, along with the World Trade Center and the PATH mass transit system between the two states. Donovan served as a Port Authority Commissioner until 2002 when her term expired, including service during the September 11 terrorist attacks which destroyed the World Trade Center.
Born in New York and raised in New Jersey, Kathe Donovan is a graduate of Queen of Peace High School, earned a B.A. Cum Laude in Political Science from Rutgers University-Newark and was awarded a J.D. from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. Kathe lives in Rutherford, with her son Brendan, age 18.
Kathe Donovan is a great woman for a tough job, and when elected this November she will be a Bergen County Executive of whom we can and will be proud.
