Romano's 2015 BoE slate 'forgot' to file ELECs

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With the 2016 School Board election looming, GA looked back at the 2015 race; specifically, campaign finance reporting to the NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC).

Filing ELECs is not only the law in the state of New Jersey, proper reporting ensures transparency in the democratic election process. ELECs allow the public to monitor the sources and expenditures of a candidate, comittee, or PAC's funds, the ebb and flow of money in our elections.  There is no legitimate reason NOT to file ELECs, unless of course a campaign has something to hide.

So, let's compare campaign finance reporting by 2015's two opposing BoE slates, Reach Higher and A Smarter Future.

The Reach Higher candidates were Tom Kluepfel, Addys Velez and Sheila Dallara.  Note, Dallara is running again with Irene Sobolov and Jen Evans.

REACH HIGHER: ELEC Reporting to-date

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You see that Reach Higher opened their campaign with a D-2 form on 9/04/2015  and  subsequently filed seven R-1s.  Reach Higher closed their campaign account with the last R-1 (filed on 07/06/2016).

Yes, Sheila Dallara's team obeyed the law,.  Sheila Dallara's team respected the public's right to view their campaign finance process.  Sheila Dallara's team ensured a clean and open campaign by  letting the public in.

What did A Smarter Future candidates  John Madigan, Britney Montgomery and Alana Kaufmann do?

What did A Smarter Future file with the NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission?

A SMARTER FUTURE: ELEC Reporting to-date

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ZIP-i-di-do-da!

A Smarter Future opened their campaign account on 10/22/2015 (behind the hippopotamus) with a D-2 form, but after that NEVER submitted a single campaign finance report (R-1)!

In the space that Reach Higher filled with campaign finance reports, A Smarter Future could fit an elephant, a fox, a rhinoceros,  a whale, two sheep, five chickens- one roasted, one plucked, an anteater, a Happy Meal, a rabbit, a zebra, a peacock, 11 baby chicks, a goat,  a circus clown, and the legs of a giraffe.

WOW!  That's a lot of blank space that should (by law) have been filled with EleC reports!

So who allowed the Smarter Future School Board slate to escape public scrutiny of their campaign financing?

That would be A Smarter Future's campaign manager, and Treasurer. 

A Smarter Future's campaign manager was:

A Smarter Future's 2015 Kick-off
And their Treasurer was:


Frank DeGrim, was appointed on January 7, 2015 for a two-year term on the Hoboken Zoning Board of Adjustments.   Comissioner DeGrim is a 4th Alternate.

The ZBA has quasi-judicial powers.

Well, if a Freeholder/mayoral candidate and a sitting ZBA Commissioner flout NJ campaign finance law, who are the rest of us to judge?

Comments

  1. Since Romano hasn't filed didn't file his post election ELEC from his own last election or any ELEC's since despite holding at least one well publicized well attended fundraiser last year (all the county big shots were there), it's certainly not much of a surprise that his school board slate hasn't filed either.

    Is Romano the political honcho behind the opposition slate again this year? Was he really the honcho last year or was he just a figurehead for Raia, Russo, Ramos? Do you have any info on the backgrounds of the candidates? Are they parents? If so do their kids go to district schools? Charters? Private? Do they have any know affiliations with prominent political players like Russo, Raia, Ramos etc?

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    1. I'm surprised that the Treasurer of a campaign that broke election law is a zoning comissioner.

      I'm surprised that the city council appointed him. Didnt DeFusco nominate him?

      I'm surprised you're not surprised a zoning comissioner whose job is to follow municipal land use law couldn't follow nj state election law.

      I'm surprised expectations of public officials to obey laws they are obliged to is so low.

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    2. General rule of thumb in Hoboken elections: if the candidate is being backed by any of the family of convicted felon and disgraced former mayor Anthony Russo the should be considered tainted by their corruption.


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  2. Russo shared his kickoff with Romanos boe ticket..maybe more.... Romanos boe treasure didn't report any of it was Russos zba pick. A hoboken coincidence.

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  3. FYI: Frank DeGrim as nominated by Michael RUSSO and Tim Occhipinti to a one year term to the Zoning Board.

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    1. Mr. DeGrim is a Fourth Alternate member of the Zoning Board. That means many Board members have to not show up at a meeting for him even be asked to vote on anything.
      I would hope that as a Fourth Alternate if he actually has a record of voting that his record be carefully reviewed before he is ever considered to remain on the Board. Based on their notorious past I too think it is fair question anyone backed by the Russo family. So far his actions or lack of them with his B.O.E. ticket does not help his reputation.

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    2. 4th Alternates can move up by appointment when seats open. Failure to obey election law should disqualify him from moving up.

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  4. Okay - so what is their excuse now? They have been reminded, where are the forms now?

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    Replies
    1. They simply just don't care because the know they can continue to get away with not following the rules.

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