The first campaign contribution documents in the 2012 Montclair municipal elections have been made public, and a few donations caught our eye. For one thing, local developer Steve Plofker donated $500 to each of the three slates. We guess he is hedging his bets.
Montclair 2012 has raised the most of any slate (just over $35K and it has also spent the most (nearly $30K, mostly on consulting fees). By comparison, For Montclair raised just over $18,000 — $10K from Mayoral candidate Harvey Susswein alone — and spent just over $10,000, while Real Progress Montclair has taken in $37,600 and spent only $14,000.
In addition, a few of Montclair 2012’s donations have raised eyebrows in rival camps, including two $2,500 donors from out of state (CA and OK). Also, the PCEA (Passaic County Education Association) PAC gave $1,000. As Sean Spiller is head of a teacher’s union himself (in Wayne), opponents have wondered if that will impact his ability to negotiate against town employees. (Then there is the question of why a Passaic county organization is donating to an election in Essex County.)
In addition to Plofker, local developer Michael Ambrosi of ARC Properties, which is developing Lackawanna Center, gave the campaign $2,500. Also, the Election Fund of Brendan Gill gave $1000. Competing camps have said the Montclair 2012 slate seems hand picked by the local Democratic party; as Gill chairs that party, this donation has fueled that suspicion.
Over at For Montclair, the donor list contains many names familiar to the local political scene, including former council member Don Zief ($2,000) and former Mayor Ed Remsen ($500). Again, Susswein himself put in ten grand — the largest amount by far that any candidate has donated to his or her own slate.
Meanwhile, RPM candidates are nearly keeping their own campaign afloat, with three of the candidates putting in nearly a third of the total donations: Leann Carlson ($5,000), Chris Swenson ($6,000) and Peter Zorich ($2,500).
To read the entire reports for yourself, click here, here and here.
Baristanet has reached out to the Montclair 2012 slate for comment; we will add to the story as we learn more.
Updated with response from the Montclair 2012 slate:
It’s gratifying when colleagues and friends give in a tangible way, like PCEA PAC’s support of Sean Spiller, a teacher in Passaic County. Rich Murnick has out-of-state friends and family, and two from out West kicked in. And we are thrilled Brendan Gill is supporting us. He and his family are pillars of the Montclair community. We’re delighted people think Robert Jackson and our Montclair 2012 slate are the best way to move this town forward.
Maybe I need to head back to math class and take the ‘if ______ is greater than________ than _______ is less than or greater than _______ ”
Because admittedly I’m confused by this one.
“Montclair 2012 has raised the most of any slate (just over $35K)”….. “while Real Progress Montclair has taken in $37,600….”
HELP !!!!
herb: you are correct, it was an editing error that was entirely my fault. I will correct it now; thank you for pointing it out.
You should also check out “than” vs. “then” as well.
… herb
“in addition to Plofker, local developer Michael Ambrosi of ARC Properties, which is developing Lackawanna Center, gave the [M2012] campaign $2,500. Also, the Election Fund of Brendan Gill gave $1000. Competing camps have said the Montclair 2012 slate seems hand picked by the local Democratic party; as Gill chairs that party, this donation has fueled that suspicion.”
Does one really need to know anything else regarding M2012?
I also updated the article to note that we have reached out to the Montclair 2012 slate for comment.
P.s. How disappointing also that RPM and FM took money from a local land developer. They should have declined that contribution.
than , then…your, your, you’re. urz, yourz, ur the writer ..I’ll leave that up to you.
I notice that when something is pointed out to you that you feel as though you need to take shot at them. Not very professional.
“Does one really need to know anything else regarding M2012?”
This combined with PTA-gate and the shrillness of the shills trashing RPM made me cross them off my list. And the Sharpe James connection.
That narrows it down to Susswein and Turner. I worry that Susswein will be more of the same. I like Turner, but politics is a nasty business even locally and if she doesn’t get her team, will we have another dysfunctional council? I’m in the 1st ward and have to choose between Murnick and Hurlock, and I’m just not sure what either of them will, or won’t contribute. If I were a 4th Ward resident, i’d be really upset about the lack of choice.
uh, that was me, Herb.
Not so much a “shot” as another proof of one of those internet laws that postulates “when correcting someone else’s mistake on the internet, you will make your own mistake in doing so.”
P.S. if you are snarky when pointing out mistakes, don’t act all wounded when someone has a little snarky fun with you.
Does anyone think the $30k consulting fee went to Walensky – whose website is almost identical in appearance to the one he undoubtedly created for 2012?
My apology to Carolyn. RoC we had similar back and forth last week so maybe I was looking for something to jump on.
My hangover causing a bit of carelessness today…so I will bow out and pick it up tomorrow….toodles.
Herbie,
Lovely.
JG check with sound to see if your mic is working.
I’m in the 4th ward jerseygirl; thanks for pointing this out again. I went to the library gathering in the hopes of hearing a voluntary answer from the individual candidates. Renee Baskerville stopped to chat with me and suggested looking at the candidates individually. While that is helpful, I still don’t know who will work best with her or why all of the slates are missing a 4th ward candidate. Perhaps this will be answered by one of them during the next debate.
(Yes, I read often, but I think I posted twice as I rarely I have anything to add to the discussion.)
jerseygurl: To be clear, it was not a “$30K consulting fee”; rather there were several fees paid to consultants by the MC 2012 slate that are in total higher (roughly 12K by my calculations) than what the other two slates seem to have paid for consulting fees. The rest of the 30k was for yard signs, printing, advertising, office space, etc., which all the slates pay for.
Check out the pdfs for more details, if you feel like combing through some numbers this morning!
Again, there might be some more clarity coming from the slates themselves, and I will update the article accordingly.
“Check out the pdfs for more details, if you feel like combing through some numbers this morning!”
Please stop bothering the reporter!
On several occasions, I’ve heard Robert Jackson promote the Lackawanna Plaza development idea. He’s an impressive candidate but I wish he hadn’t accepted money from the owner/developer. Now we don’t know if it’s a good idea or an idea driven by money. Sean Spiller also pushes the idea.
Excuse what is probably a dumb question, but just to be sure: you vote for the councilor in your specific ward along with two councilors-at-large?
It’s not just based on the above post (though this one is a particularly rich example of what I mean), but would folks agree with me that what passes for editing on this site is generally very badly done? If indeed done at all?
It definitely seems as if the sort of mistakes made so commonly by Baristanet’s “editors” and “reporters” are those students are always taught specifically not to do in Journalism 101 classes. This is “citizen journalism?” If so, perhaps the intended citizenry is that of Al Capp’s famous Dogpatch.
And yes, all these errors and corrections and “updates” detract greatly from both the impact and reliability of any story seen here.
“Excuse what is probably a dumb question, but just to be sure: you vote for the councilor in your specific ward along with two councilors-at-large?”
Yes, and a Mayor. One of the councilors at large becomes “deputy Mayor” (not sure how that is decided.) And as far as I can tell the “deputy Mayor” title is meaningless.
The deputy mayor is chosen by the council at its first meeting. I think historically it goes to the person who has received the most votes.
Of course, this council chose to take the title from Roger Terry and give it to Kathryn Weller-Demming when Terry dared to vote against the mayor’s agenda. So it happens that way, too!
The article has been updated to include a statement from Montclair 2012.
“The article has been updated to include a statement from Montclair 2012.”
Hmmm. No explanation/justification of the money from developers? Strange. I wonder why they contributed?
The consulting fees for M2012 are going to their campaign manager, Henry DeKonick, who was the manager of the Thrive Montclair slate last go-around.
BTW, they all took the same amount from Plofker, it wasn’t just RPM and For Montclair.
The consulting fees for M2012 are going to their campaign manager, Henry DeKonick, who was the manager of the Thrive Montclair slate last go-around.
DEKONICK! Oh my God, talk about a disqualifying hire for M2012. That guy is pure, 100% sleaze.
“The consulting fees for M2012 are going to their campaign manager, Henry DeKonick, who was the manager of the Thrive Montclair slate last go-around.”
That’s not correct I believe.
Isn’t Bryan Walensky the campaign Manager?
https://www.northjersey.com/news/142156833_Real_Progress_Montclair_co-chair_resigns_from_CCM.html?c=y&page=3
Famous of :
https://grafixavenger.blogspot.com/2011/07/bluewater-operations-llc-contacts-ga.html
Also the consulting fees were paid to “Political Strategies LLC” which is listed with the same address as Walensky on the R1 Form. If the LLC is DeKonick, does he room with Walensky?
“BTW, they all took the same amount from Plofker, it wasn’t just RPM and For Montclair.”
True. to their shame.
But, developer Michael Ambrosi of ARC Properties, which is developing Lackawanna Center, gave them $2,500.
By them you mean M2012. And DeKonick has been paid over $5000 by M2012 for his consulting services. You have to also check the individual R1 forms for the candidates. I believe Russo has also paid him through his campaign.
“Updated with response from the Montclair 2012 slate:”
They have collected more than $14,000 from individuals and businesses located outside of Montclair and they want us to believe that it is all from friends, colleagues and family wishing them well? Seriously??
I have plenty of family and friends who live elsewhere that would gladly fork over money if I ran for public office. I don’t really think that is so much an issue.
I agree with Nick. Those are likely friends. Seems obvious to me. More troubling to me is the people associated with M2012 and with the higher degree of developer’s money.
“but would folks agree with me that what passes for editing on this site is generally very badly done?”
Cathar, local blogging is the modern version of Stone Soup. Baristanet is only providing the stone and the pot. The rest is up to us.
“The consulting fees for M2012 are going to their campaign manager, Henry DeKonick, ”
Mr. DeKonick’s fees are well deserved, given all of the hours he has spent online setting up new screen names and flaming the competing slates.
“I have plenty of family and friends who live elsewhere that would gladly fork over money if I ran for public office. I don’t really think that is so much an issue.”
Of course you support out of town campaign donations…I think you ARE running for office……’nick Charles.
Don’t forget the Civics & Government Institute Mayoral Debate Thursday night at 6:30pm at Montclair High School. Hope to see you there.
I had something to do on Thursday night, but I can’t remember for the life of me.
I wouldn’t vote for the Jackson ticket, knowing who their supporters are. Who needs more of that?
Of course you support out of town campaign donations
I support Freedom of Speech, which allows me to donate to a candidate in my town and to a candidate who lives in a town three thousand miles away if I so wish. If Harvey Susswein’s Aunt Greta in Oregon wants to send him $1,000, so be it. Why does it matter?
“For one thing, local developer Steve Plofker donated $500 to each of the three slates. We guess he is hedging his bets.”
Anyone know if Plofker also donated $500 to mayoral write-in candidate Ted Mattox’s campaign? If he did, now that would surely be hedging one’s bets.
___’nick
It’s a free country, but when the large majority of contributions to M2012 are from outside Montclair, it calls into questions the motives of the contributors. Apparently, Jackson and M2012 has a large extended family outside of Montclair.
Just read that Cary Africk is endorsing Susswein for Mayor. Interesting.
“Rich Murnick has out-of-state friends and family, and two from out West kicked in.”
This sounds a bit as though he doesn’t have any in-state friends….
Many of Murnich’s first ward constituents have been unhappy with his lack of representation, but it must be worse than I thought if his money is coming primarily from out of state!
Montclair spent nearly 30k on consultants! Imagine what they would do if they ran the town. The next level of NJ political patronage awaits
Meant Montclair 2012
CGI Debate tonight! 6:30pm