Council Choice for Auditor Violated Pay-to-Play Ordinance

Borough council will reopen its search for an auditor after learning that the Republican-supported choice for the job was in violation of Fair Lawn's pay-to-play ordinance.

Gary Higgins, of Fair Lawn-based accounting firm Lerch, Vinci & Higgins, contributed $1,000 to the Bergen County Republican Organization in 2011, according to the state's New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (NJELEC) database. 

Fair Lawn's pay-to-play ordinance, originally enacted in 2006 and amended in 2011, prohibits the borough from entering into an agreement or contracting on a no-bid basis to procure services from a "professional business entity" that has made or pledged contributions in excess of $300 within the past two years to the campaign committee of any borough candidate or officeholder, any borough or Bergen County party committee or any political action committee that is organized to support borough candidates or officeholders.

Higgins donates primarily to Democrats and had actually donated five times previously to the Bergen County Democratic Organization -- in 1998, 1999 and 2001 -- but it was his lone donation to the BCRO last year that ran afoul of the borough's ordinance because it was made within the last election cycle.

Deputy Mayor Ed Trawinski, who supported the appointment of Lerch, Vinci & Higgins as borough auditor at the May 1 work session, said he was not aware of the violation at the time.

"If there was a disclosure certified by Lerch, Vinci & Higgins, then frankly, I just missed it," said Trawinski, who vowed to find a replacement auditing firm that had not contributed in excess of the borough's ordinance.

"For me, it doesn’t matter whether the contribution was for Republicans or Democrats, it’s the principle of, if you're good enough to get the award of a contract, you should get it on your own merits without making contributions," he said.

The finding that Higgins' donations were in violation of the borough's ordinance comes shortly after Trawinski and Mayor Jeanne Baratta opposed the re-appointment of longtime borough auditor Steve Wielkotz, of accounting firm Ferraioli, Wielkotz, Cerullo & Cuva, for his history of political contributions.

Wielkotz, who has served as the borough's auditor for over a decade, has been at the center of a county-level controversy recently in which county executive Kathleen Donovan opposed his re-appointment as county auditor, calling him the "poster child for pay-to-play," and "a Democrat first and an auditor second" according to a report in the Bergen Record. 

In 2010, Wielkotz' partner, Charles Ferraioli, was removed as Teaneck's auditor for the firm's violation of the town's pay-to-play ordinance.

Individually, Wielkotz has contributed over $90,000 to various political campaigns over the years -- with 98 percent of those contributions going to Democrats -- but, unlike Higgins, he has never violated Fair Lawn's pay-to-play ordinance, according to NJELEC records.

Although Wielkotz contributed in excess of $64,000 to the Bergen County Democratic Organization from 1998 to 2004 -- while he was the borough's auditor -- those contributions occurred prior to the enactment of the borough's pay-to-play ordinance, rendering them void.

Trawinski acknowledged that Wielkotz had not violated the letter of the borough's pay-to-play ordinance, but alleges that Wielkotz has violated the spirit of the ordinance through his donations to "Victory" accounts that he alleges then funnel his contributions on to the BCDO.

Trawinski said once the budget has been approved, he plans to again propose amending the borough's pay-to-play ordinance so that contributions made to intermediary accounts that are used to shuttle contributions back and forth to political committees or candidates are also illegal.

"There was no will up until this year on the part of the council to repair that part of the ordinance and make it crystal clear," he said. "But once we get through the budget, it is the Republicans' intent to clarify and amend the ordinance."

Trawinski said that in addition to Wielkotz and Lerch, Vinci & Higgins, the borough received responses from two other auditors seeking the borough auditor position. While he said he had yet to review the candidates' qualifications, he was adamant about reviewing the extent of political contributions of any candidate before signing off on their hiring.

Trawinski said that if he finds the two remaining auditor applicants have a long history of political contributions, he'll ask that council make a call for a new set of requests for quotation with the specification that prospective entities disclose both their firm's contributions as well as the contributions of every partner with more than a 10 percent ownership stake in the firm.

Democratic councilman Kurt Peluso, who supported the re-appointment of Wielkotz as borough auditor and , said he would continue to support Wielkotz for the position of borough auditor.

"I don’t think I’m doing what’s right for the residents of Fair Lawn if I don’t pick the best auditor," Peluso said. "And I truly believe that Wielkotz is the best auditor and I’m going to stand by Wielkotz."

A look at the political contributions since 1985 of the auditing firms/auditors initially supported by the Democrats (Steve Wielkotz) and Republicans (Lerch, Vinci & Higgins):

Source: NJELEC database

*Donations to nonpartisan candidates not included

*Neither auditor or auditing firm has ever contributed directly to a Fair Lawn borough candidate or council member

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