Health & Fitness
Barnegat Merry-Go-Round: GOP Primary Heats Up From Sub-Zero To Zero
Lisella and Blumenthal have nothing to worry about.
I got my glossy mailer today from the "M&M" team of Maxine Blumenthal and Marty Lisella. I didn't know that Phil Checchia was "hand picked by the local Democrats." What is he, a piece of fruit? Besides, I thought local Democrats picked Len Morano and some other guy to be their candidates.
Anyway, I was curious to see who's paying for that mailer and the "M&M" signs I'm starting to see sprout from street corners like ugly weeds in my backyard, so I checked out the NJ-ELEC reports that were supposed to be filed 11 days before the primary. Here's the link to "M&M"s campaign reports filed by their joint campaign committee:
Find out what's happening in Barnegat-Manahawkinfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
They raised over $7,000, all in small donations of $300 or less, except for one donation of $3,300 from a group calling themselves the "Barnegat GOP Finance Committee". Gee, I wonder who they are. So I checked out their report for 2011:
Find out what's happening in Barnegat-Manahawkinfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
They didn't raise anything the first quarter of this year, but they reported about $3,500 cash on hand as of March 31, so they obviously dumped their shekels into the "M&M" campaign committee. So where did the Barnegat GOP get their money from? Here's the link to their reports from 2010:
They raised over $6,000 last year, all of it in small ($300 or less), donations so they don't have to report individual contributors. Of course it doesn't mean anything.
For example (and strictly hypothetically), a developer and his wife can donate $600 to the Barnegat GOP, and another $600 to "M&M," and not have it disclosed. Let's put it this way, I doubt if most of the money raised by Barnegat GOP and "M&M" came from old folks on social security or working parents just struggling to survive and pay their property taxes.
As to their "Primary Opponent" picked by local Democrats to "deceive and confuse the true Republican voter" I haven't seen any signs or campaign presence. If Democrats did pick him as "M&M" claim, they certainly haven't provided him with any logistical or financial support. The Barnegat High School senior prom has gotten more attention than the primary election for township committee. I was curious to see if Phil Checchia filed any reports with ELEC so here is the link:
I'm sure Phil Checchia is an honorable, decent, honest gent, so I won't get into too many specifics or criticism of his paperwork. Except for the sworn candidate statement, he didn't have to file anything. I suppose he wants to be "transparent" by disclosing all three of his contributors (at $25 each), which is more than any other candidate I know of.
I'd like to see "M&M" and the Barnegat GOP do the same, and I have a suspicion it wouldn't take much paperwork to disclose all their contributors including the ones who "maxed out" at $300 to avoid the disclosure threshold.
But, Phil, if you're going to disclose your contributors, however few or small their donations might be, at least let us know where you're depositing the money by designating a depository institution for your campaign, lest anyone think you might be putting that $75 into your own account and using the proceeds to order half a dozen pizzas from Vinnie's for your election night party with supporters.
