Committee Elections: The Money Behind the Campaigns

The five candidates for Barnegat Township Committee have filed mandated pre-election finance reports, and the Republican campaign is taking some criticism from rivals for accepting donations from professionals who currently do business with the township.

Reports filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) show the Republican candidates outspent Democrats by more than three to one, and the expenditures of the lone independent in the race trailed well behind those of the two main parties.

The dollars raised went to buy advertising, campaign signs, mailers and, in the case of the Republicans and Democrats, candidate breakfast events. 

The Republican campaign, supporting and incumbent , has to date collected $11,287 and spent $10,908.82.

Democratic incumbent and running mate received $3,142 in donations and have spent $850; Morano said that by election day, total expenditures will amount to $3,042.

Independent collected $800 and spent $753.10.

The majority of funds raised by Barnegat candidates came from small donations of $300 or less, which campaigns are not required to report individually. No reportable contributions – those amounting to more than $300 from a single source – were collected by Effron. The only large contribution reported by the Democrats was a $500 donation made by Morano.

The Republicans’ records show that $2,400 of their campaign chest – just over 20 percent – came from reportable contributions from four corporations, two of which have active contracts with the township. 

Taylor Design Group, a Mount Laurel-based company that serves as Barnegat’s landscape architecture firm, gave $600.

William E. Antonides and Company, an accounting firm based in Monmouth and Ocean counties, gave $600. William Antonides is currently the auditor for Barnegat Township. Another company, Lake Drive Associates, gave $600 to the campaign the same day. The address listed for the company is the same residential Freehold address given for Antonides’ CPA firm.

A fourth $600 donation was made by Citta, Holzapfel and Zabarsky, a Toms River law firm. Steven Zabarsky, a partner in the firm, is the prosecutor for a number of Ocean County towns, including Ocean Township, Stafford and Ship Bottom. James W. Holzapfel, the firm’s other partner, is a 10th Legislative District Assemblyman.

Lisella and Blumenthal both said that they played no role in the solicitation or collection of campaign donations, and preferred not to know who their donors were. 

“If I don’t know who donated, I’m happy,” Lisella said. “I stay completely out of it. It’s not for me to get involved in, nor do I want to get involved in it.”

Staying out of the money side of the campaign means donors can’t influence them on the dais, Lisella explained. “I don’t think we’re in a position that we should pay any attention to that,” he said.

GOP campaign chairman Ken Matthews said the campaign reported all contributions according to ELEC’s rules, and at no point violated New Jersey’s pay-to-play laws, which bar contributions by certain contractors to campaigns in municipalities where they do business.

“We hear from a lot of Republican supporters,” Matthews said. A lot of their contributions were smaller donations, he pointed out, which are typically anonymous. "I followed that desire on their behalf," he said. But nothing was hidden from public view. "The reports tell the whole story," said Matthews.

The Republicans’ opponents said they were happy they couldn’t point to any big donors in their own reports. 

“It’s all nickels and dimes,” said Morano. “I don’t have companies coming in giving me money.” 

He said he doesn't feel candidates should take money from contractors they might end up employing, "but unfortunately, that's how the world works. It's a sin."

Neither the Republicans nor Democrats reported contributions from their respective county parties or political action committees. Democrat Mike Howard said he was fine with that.

“I've never felt like I owed anybody anything,” Howard said, “so I don’t have to think about doing anything but what I want to do for the town. I am beholden to no one.”

Effron said he felt campaign donations by companies should raise red flags for voters. “That’s party politics, and that’s the shady part of it,” he said. Taxpayers are struggling, he said, “but everyone else seems to be doing OK – our professionals, our lawyers, our engineers, our town architects. Why do the same people get into the same positions year after year?”

To view the expense reports, go to ELEC's candidate and committee reports page and enter the name of the candidate whose reports you want to see. Be aware that the candidate may have filed jointly with a running mate; in that case, the site will offer a link to their joint filings. From there, you can click the link for the current 2011 general campaign and look through the reports filed in recent months.