Bergen Assemblyman Gordon Johnson’s big toe dip into countywide law enforcement politics this year bears somewhat of a resemblance to an examination of conscience in 2010 by then-state Senator John Girgenti (D-35) in neighboring Passaic County.

It was August of 2010, when then-Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale – a bankable star for the Democrats – suddenly announced that he would not pursue reelection. It was a blow to the organization, which tested all the sudden recuperative powers by U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-9) and Chairman John Currie, who promptly jumped on the phones at Hawthorne Chevrolet.

In a crisis, with Governor Chris Christie and his allies high fiving one another over their scheme to ferry Speziale off the ticket with a job at the Port Authority, Currie’s eye lingered on Girgenti – chair of the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee – as an emergency replacement.

Girgenti was on vacation at the time – down the shore.

As Currie tried to contact him, other candidates began pounding on his door.

At last the chairman broke through.

“We’re going in another direction, John,” Currie told Girgenti, who craved a little more time to mull a game plan.

Currie had Clifton cop Richard Berdnik ready to go by that point.

Now Johnson – formerly a sheriff and undersheriff –  says he’s interested in the job. Party sources acknowledge he’d be a good candidate in several significant ways. He’s a veteran Trenton lawmaker who knows the angles. He’s got military service on the resume. Plus, as an African-American he sends a tolerance message in the aftermath of disgraced former Sheriff Mike Saudino’s racist-rant-from-hell recording. Also working in Johnson’s favor is the cops’ pension program, which would trip most of them up if they vacated their current offices for a sheriff’s post.

Like Girgenti, however, Gordon’s nursed a political independent streak that doesn’t exactly endear him to the county party brain trust.

In the senator’s case, he frequently quarreled with Currie over senate advice and consent matters. For his part, Johnson’s gone rogue – or stayed rogue – on several occasions, including his jump-out for Phil Murphy for Governor ahead of the 2017 contest, when the county organization appeared to be prepping for Steve Fulop; and his still rankling slection of Rush Holt over Cory Booker in the 2013 Democratic Primary for Senate.

He’s a nonstarter, in the eyes of some of those close to Bergen County Democratic Committee Chairman Lou Stellato.

Currie at least gave a real eyeballing of Girgenti – even if it was just momentary.

Given the history, Stellato might be inclined to dismiss Johnson at the outset.

More to the point – and probably the overriding consideration here – is that the Governor’s Office appears enamored of Bergenfield Chief Cathy Madalone and is already moving with the county party in all expedition to make her the acting sheriff and affix her to the Nov. 6th ballot as a special election candidate to succeed Saudino.

Berdnik, incidentally, went on to defeat Republican Felix Garcia of Wayne in 2010, a victory in tumultuous political times that enabled Pascrell to get his operation ready for a post-redistricting 2012 Democratic Primary, which he won. Girgenti – who still sits on a warchest of $250,000 – retired after 2011 redistricting separated his hometown of Hawthorne from district population anchor Paterson.