The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Old Tappan NJ, As election season heats up in Old Tappan, a slew of issues have surfaced, raising concerns about transparency and adherence to electoral laws. Reports indicate that the “Old Tappan Republican Party” is operating without a legal address, treasurer, or proper financial statements, prompting questions and frustration among residents.
Continue reading Election Season: A Call for Accountability and Transparency in Old Tappan
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Trenton NJ, “The three commissioners who comprise the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission resigned Thursday afternoon,” according to published reports.
This guest editorial was Published in today’s editions of The Record and Herald News.
Being a candidate for local office can be thankless position to have
Your Turn
Paul Vagianos Guest columnist
The Record and northjersey.com recently reported that Ridgewood Mayor Ramon Hache was being investigated by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) for failure to correctly report several hundred dollars of campaign contributions (“Ridgewood mayor hit with money complaint,” Page 1L, Oct. 8).
It is important to put this matter into perspective. Mayor Hache was a first-time candidate running for local office as a councilman. ELEC regulations, while critically important to our free and fair electoral process, are a maze of laws and filing requirements that can be confusing to a seasoned veteran of multiple elections. In this instance, the mayor’s campaign treasurer was his wife.
The vast majority of local elections are waged by residents who want to contribute their time and efforts to their town. If you’ve ever attended a local council meeting, you’ve seen that it is perhaps the most thankless job in the world. Most meetings have little or no attendance unless an issue has upset some of the local residents – in which case, watch out.
Those are the meetings that go on for hours, well into the wee hours of the morning with residents criticizing and often attacking local council people. For their efforts, members of the council in Ridgewood are paid $2,500 – the mayor gets $5,000. For the hours they put in, that amount doesn’t even begin to approach the minimum wage. Most people are unwilling to serve their community under these circumstances.
If this isn’t enough to discourage good people from running for local office, ELEC has filed a complaint against a local official because his wife didn’t keep good records of his campaign contributions. To make matters worse, The Record portrayed the matter as something far more serious than what it actually is: a local resident running for office in a small town who didn’t file all the forms correctly.
We’re not talking about someone running for governor or U.S. Senate who can afford to hire a paid professional to ensure that these forms are filed correctly. We’re talking about a local guy who just wanted to give back to his community.
It’s difficult enough to get good people to run for local office. This just makes it that much harder.
Paul Vagianos lives in Ridgewood.
By Insider NJ | April 26, 2017, 10:31 am
Republican gubernatorial candidate Hirsh Singh today said he filed a formal request with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) to allow him to participate in the 2017 Republican primary gubernatorial interactive debates.
Singh argued that although he has not accepted public funds for his campaign he nonetheless “has over $900,000 in campaign contributions on hand.”
“As I’ve said all along, our campaign has the resources we need to compete with the other candidates in the race, to get our message out, and to defeat Phil Murphy in November,” said Singh, who cited N.J.A.C. 19:25-1.4 as the basis for his legal argument demanding entry to the debate forum.
https://www.insidernj.com/singh-sues-elec-effort-gain-entry-debate-participation/
Dustin Racioppi , State House Bureau, @dracioppiPublished 6:59 p.m. ET Feb. 10, 2017 | Updated 10:42 a.m. ET Feb. 11, 2017
Bill Brennan, a declared candidate for governor who filed a complaint alleging Gov. Chris Christie committed a crime during the George Washington Bridge lane closures, has been raising money for his bid without having filed the necessary paperwork with the state, according to records.
Brennan appears to be one of at least two candidates in the race who are soliciting donations without the legal papers in place to do so.
State Legislation Needed to Close Loopholes in Pay-to-Play Laws
Government purchasing agents from throughout the State gathered in Atlantic City last week for a conference sponsored by the Rutgers Center for Government Services. Jeff Brindle, PolitickerNJ Read more
April 1st 2016
Ridgewood NJ, from the Take Back Ridgewood Facebook page , Your Village Manager is questioning spending 40K on an election (are we living in democracy?), while she was busy in spending 122K of OUR money to get construction documents for a design that was yet to be discussed with public?
They asked for change order of $120,000.00 because they had already spent the $295,000.00 on all of the plans for a design that was not finalized!! And we wonder why they won’t budge on the current plan. Do not blame us for wasting the taxpayers dollars!
https://www.tubechop.com/watch/7840960
Increased spending on issues such as education, public worker pensions, transportation, and hospitals drove lobbying expenditures in New Jersey in 2015 to $70 million, the second highest total ever, according to an analysis of annual lobbying reports released today by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC). Jeff Brindle, PolitickerNJ Read more
New Jersey voter turnout reaches a new low
The percentage of registered New Jersey voters who cast a ballot in this year’s general election tumbled to the lowest level in more than nine decades. Associated Press Read more
ELEC: PAC Dollars Spurred Elections Spending to Over $30 Million
Independent special interest spending drove the cost of this year’s legislative general election above $30 million, according to this morning’s new 2015 elections analysis of disclosure reports by the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC). The spending, which still is considered preliminary, already has established a record high for a year with just Assembly members running. Politicker Staff, PolitickerNJ Read more
Where did the money go in N.J. Assembly races?
Independent committees spent more than $2 million in the three districts where Democrats picked up four seats in last month’s state Assembly election that awarded the party its largest majority in the lower chamber since 1979. Samantha Marcus, NJ.com Read more
Who raised the big bucks in the N.J. Assembly races
Outside money flowed into New Jersey Assembly races at a record rate leading up toTuesday’s election. Samantha Marcus, NJ.com Read more
General Majority, under the name Fund for Jobs Growth and Security, spent more than $8 million to help elect Democrats, according to ELEC.
Secret Independent Influence on Elections at ‘Astounding’ Levels
There is no better illustration of the dominant role in elections undertaken by independent groups in New Jersey than this year’s Assembly contest. Jeff Brindle, PolitickerNJ Read more
A preliminary report from New Jersey’s Election Law Enforcement Commission reveals that county party coffers during state elections have seen a continuing slump during this year’s elections. The release cites the growth of independent PAC spending, limitations on contributions from public contractors, and overall contribution limits that have not kept pace with the rate of inflation. JT Aregood, PolitickerNJ Read more
Eight partners of a politically active New Jersey law firm are accused of illegally funneling about $8,000 in political contributions to state and local candidates and committees through the firm’s associate attorneys. Samantha Marcus, NJ.com Read more
N.J. campaign committees continue to see fundraising decline
By Matt Friedman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
That’s the least amount raised for any legislative election year since at least 2007, though that’s in part because only the Assembly is on the ballot — the first time that’s happened since 1999. But Jeff Brindle, ELEC’s executive director, said much of that money has been or will be put into other channels.
APRIL 10, 2015, 7:42 PM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2015, 10:48 PM
BY SALVADOR RIZZO
STATE HOUSE BUREAU |
THE RECORD
Companies with public contracts in New Jersey gave a record amount of money last year to a new breed of political advocacy groups that can influence elections without facing the state’s tough pay-to-play restrictions and disclosure requirements.
Although it was an electoral off-year with no statewide candidates on the ballot, contractors gave $1.8 million to PACs and outside groups in 2014, a 16 percent rise over the previous year, according to a report released Tuesday by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission. Direct donations from contractors to candidates’ campaigns fell 15 percent, to $9.1 million, ELEC reported.
“Independent groups are becoming a major force in politics, both nationally and in New Jersey,” said Jeff Brindle, the executive director of ELEC. Contractors are pouring more funds into those groups because “it’s a way around the law — it’s a way around pay-to-play” restrictions, and it allows many donors to remain anonymous, Brindle said.
New Jersey law generally bars any company with a contract worth more than $17,500 from giving more than $300 to gubernatorial candidates and party fundraising committees. Any contractor that gives money has to file a disclosure with ELEC.
