Black Horse Pike Board of Education Campaign $11,700 In Debt

Earlier this week, it was reported here that the election campaign for 2014 Gloucester Township Board of Education candidates Mary Jo Dintino, Mark Gallo and Helen Albright Troxell have submitted reports that it is nearly $10,000 in debt.

Now, reports have been submitted that reveal that the 2014 Black Horse Pike Board of Education candidates Kevin Bucceroni, Ben Zanghi, and Joyce Ellis have campaign debt of $11,700. This according to the report filed by campaign treasurer Andrew Rosati to the NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission (NJ ELEC). Bucceroni and Ellis won reelection for seats on the School Board. Zanghi lost in his bid for reelection.

Zanghi, the election loser, has been a long-time politically connected insider. But recently, Zanghi seemed to fall out of favor with the powerful Democrat Party in Gloucester Township, which is tightly controlled by Mayor Dave Mayer. Zanghi received $127,000 in consulting fees from the GT Municipal Utilities Authority during a 7 month period in 2013-2014. Then, in February 2014, Zanghi’s consulting engagement with the GTMUA abruptly ended. And the GTMUA software implementation project that Zanghi was working on was over budget and under-delivered.

During their campaign for Black Horse Pike School Board seats, the three Team Mayer-backed candidates Bucceroni, Zanghi, and Ellis spent unprecedented amounts. The campaign raised $16,800 (virtually all from contributions by firms awarded GT government contracts; Remington & Vernick made the largest donation); paid $15,216.20 in expenses; and, according to Rosati, still owes $13,335 to a political strategy company Strategic Message Design Group. One of the more puzzling expenditures by the campaign was $2,000 to purchase a ‘bingo machine’.

More so, their campaign was bolstered by spending by four different Team Mayer political action committees (PACs)*. These four Team Mayer PACs have not yet submitted their final reports to NJ ELEC; but as of 10/28/2014, they have spent $13,500 for the campaign of Bucceroni, Zanghi, Ellis. (Again, virtually all of this is from contributions from firms awarded GT government contracts.)

Additional amounts were spent by the Gloucester Township Democrat Party Committee when it sponsored and hosted several campaign barbeque parties around Gloucester Township to support Bucceroni, Zanghi, and Ellis. (Yet again, virtually all of this was funded by contributions from firms awarded GT government contracts.)

The payment of this Bucceroni, Zanghi, Ellis campaign debt will be monitored and reported as information is made available. Please check back to this space for updates.

Also, the actions of newly reelected Board members Kevin Bucceroni and Joyce Ellis will be closely monitored to ensure that they act independently of the interests of the private firms and of the political party that funded their election campaign.

* The four Team Mayer-affiliated PACs that made expenditures on behalf of the campaign of Bucceroni, Zanghi, Ellis are:
1. Association of Former Gloucester Township Democratic Mayors (PAC Chairperson and Treasurer Richard Calabrese)
2. Gloucester Township Citizens for Government Reform (PAC Chairperson Cynthia Carlamere; PAC Treasurer Laura Power)
3. Gloucester Township Parents for Educational Excellence (PAC Chairperson Suzanne Moore; PAC Treasurer Kenneth Treger)
4. GT Chairman’s Club (PAC Chairperson Robert Richards; PAC Treasurer Dorothy Bradley)