The Democratic Party establishment in and around Passaic County has made its choice for sheriff:

Thomas Adamo, the department’s current chief of law enforcement, is the man.

Just take a look at some of those who have endorsed him. Here we go:

Phil Murphy.

Reps. Mikie Sherrill, Bill Pascrell and Josh Gottheimer, all of whom represent parts of Passaic County.

The state Legislative teams from LD-27 and LD-36.

Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter from LD-35.

And many local Democratic officials, including the Passaic County organization.

You may think that would make Adamo a shoe-in on June 4. He is being challenged in the primary by Jerry Speziale, a former sheriff. The primary battle follows the suicide earlier this year of Richard Berdnik, who had been sheriff since 2011.

Before one goes there, let’s look at two points.

The sudden disappearance of the “county line” has made such organizational endorsements a bit less significant than they were just a year ago.

And no one should forget that in her now-ended Senate campaign, Tammy Murphy lined up a host of endorsements too, and how did that turn out?

Aside from the endorsement game, the Passaic County Dems are devoting part of their social media pages to attacking Speziale.

In short, they call him an opportunist, a liar, a bad manager and a man without character or integrity.

Most recently, the Passaic Dems question, or rather dismiss, claims by Speziale that during his tenure as sheriff, he cut crime by 30 percent and “saved taxpayers millions.”

Campaign claims by all candidates lean to exaggeration.

After all, many factors go into reducing crime and whatever the facts, it’s a stretch to credit one individual – like the sheriff.

Team Speziale counters that his opponent is getting “desperate.”

Speziale has scheduled an official campaign kickoff for this coming Saturday in Wayne.

Adamo, just last week, hosted a well-attended and spirited “Meet and Greet” at a Mexican restaurant in Clifton.

Notwithstanding the charges being leveled at Speziale by the county organization,  at his event, Adamo spoke positively about himself and did not mention his opponent.

As for Speziale, his social media pages are also quite positive.

Getting back to endorsements,  Speziale himself was endorsed Wednesday by a well-known political figure.

That was Steve Fulop, the gubernatorial candidate and mayor of Jersey City. He had this to say:

“We’re helping to build for change in Passaic County (plus)  we will win outside of the traditional Democratic machine infrastructure. A couple weeks ago I hosted a fundraiser for Jerry Speziale (and) we have another event on deck for May. He and I have had a long friendship  (and) I know Passaic County will be a better/more independent place with him as Sheriff. I’m a big supporter of Jerry and I hope you also consider joining him for Passaic County progress.”