CME Associates Buys Middlesex County Democrats
By Harold V. Kane, Monroe Township
It is no secret in Middlesex County that the Middlesex County Democrat Organization never seems to have problems raising money for political campaigns. What is strange is who some of the donors are. Did you ever hear of Citizens for a Green Environment, Women for Good Government, or the Coalition for Government Efficiency. These three groups are political action committees that support Democrats exclusively. One has to ask where their funds come from Are tree huggers, feminists, and efficiency experts so interested in electoral activity that they are willing to donate huge sums to their respective groups. The answer is of course NOT!
These three groups are among 12(list below) that the Democrats established for scrutiny-avoidance so that large sums of money could be contributed but not readily made available for review. The key to this type of operation is the difference in the contribution level that may be given to an individual candidate versus to PAC. The maximum that a single person or organization can make to candidate’s committee is $2,600 per election. However, the maximum that can be made to a PAC is $7,200 per election. If a donor wants to contribute large sums to a candidate or series of candidates, the easiest way is to contribute to PACs and let the PACs distribute the money. This is what happens in Middlesex County.
Since January of 2008 up to August of 2011, the PACs controlled by the Middlesex County Democrats have accepted $1,715,264 from various contributors with $621,000 (36%) coming from the five principals ( David Samuel, John Stefani, Jay Cornell, Michael McClelland, and Gregory Valesi) of CME Associates of Sayreville. This does not include the $250,000 that the CME principals contributed to various candidate committees. In total the CME principals contributed $854,550 to the Democrats and a paltry $17,550 to the Republicans for a total of $872,100 during this 3.5 year period.
Obviously CME was not alone. Second on the donor hit parade was T&M Associates of Middletown, third was the Gartland Family of Companies of Baltimore and fourth was Federal Business Centers of Edison. The citizens of Middlesex County have gotten a partial reprieve from these clandestine activities. Francis Gartland, the scion of the Gartland family of companies, has pled guilty to bribing a public official in Ocean County. This should keep the Gartland check book closed, at least for a while.
You must be wondering how this massive scrutiny-avoidance can happen. The Democrats are exploiting a fault in the NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission computer system. The fault precludes a standard name query from extracting contributor names that gave to PACs. The information is available, but is not overly easy to find.
| Democrat scrutiny-avoidance Organizations | |||
| From Jan. 1 2008 to August 1, 2011 | |||
| PAC | Total Contr. | CME Amount | CME % |
| Coalition for Government Efficiency | $130,350.00 | $50,000.00 | 38.00% |
| Box 263, Eatontown |
|
|
|
| Democracy in Motion PAC | $189,716.00 | $65,000.00 | 34.00% |
| 12 Deerfield Road, Sayreville |
|
|
|
| New Expectations PAC | $196,066.00 | $60,000.00 | 30.00% |
| 2 Lincoln Highway, ste 511, Edison |
|
|
|
| Cmte for Efficiency in Government PAC | $38,500.00 | $26,000.00 | 67.00% |
| 11 Barton Road, Mountain Lakes |
|
|
|
| Women for Good Government PAC | $238,616.00 | $75,000.00 | 32.00% |
| 250 George St, New Brunswick |
|
|
|
| Raritan Bay Leadership Fund | $203,466.00 | $77,500.00 | 38.00% |
| 251 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick |
|
|
|
| Committee for Civic Responsibility | $222,450.00 | $70,000.00 | 31.00% |
| 68 Old Road, Princeton |
|
|
|
| People Energizing Government PAC | $136,900.00 | $50,200.00 | 37.00% |
| 105 Morristown Road, ste 105, Bernardsville |
|
|
|
| Higher Point Leadership | $59,300.00 | $28,000.00 | 47.00% |
| 1377 Main Street, Millstone Borough |
|
|
|
| Citizens for Green Environment | $119,350.00 | $60,000.00 | 50.00% |
| 1102 Hazelwood Avenue, Middlesex Borough |
|
|
|
| Bergen County Young Democrats | $35,900.00 | $8,500.00 | 24.00% |
| 14 Brinkerhoff Avenue, Teaneck |
|
|
|
| 19th District Democratic Leadership Fund | $144,650.00 | $51,000.00 | 35.00% |
| 13 Zalewski Drive, Sayreville |
|
|
|
| $1,715,264.00 | $621,200.00 | 36% avg |
|
|
|
CME |
$621,200.00 |
|
T & M Associates |
$167,500.00 |
|
Gartland – Federal Hill Risk Management |
$95,864.00 |
|
Federal Business Centers |
$85,700.00 |
|
Richard Alaimo |
$77,700.00 |
|
EPIC |
$66,300.00 |
|
Houdlik & Morrison |
$47,300.00 |
|
Feist Engineering |
$46,600.00 |
|
Remington Vernick |
$46,400.00 |
|
NAIK Consulting |
$31,800.00 |
|
Shain, Schaefer, and Raffanello |
$29,500.00 |
|
Omar Boraie |
$17,700.00 |
|
Martin Murphy |
$16,000.00 |
|
Larry Berger |
$15,500.00 |
|
Golden, Rothschild, et al |
$15,000.00 |
|
Omland Corp |
$15,000.00 |
|
Klein Advertising |
$14,400.00 |
|
Eric Bernstein – attorney |
$13,200.00 |
|
Lori Dvorak – attorney |
$11,400.00 |
|
Hoagland, Longo, Moran |
$11,200.00 |
|
Dwyer, Connell – attorneys |
$10,500.00 |
|
Michael J. Stone – attorney |
$10,500.00 |
|
Elaine Flynn |
$10,000.00 |
|
William Flynn – attorney |
$9,000.00 |
|
Najarian Assoc |
$7,750.00 |
|
David Klein |
$7,200.00 |
|
Hatch Mott McDonald |
$7,200.00 |
|
R3M Engineering |
$7,200.00 |
|
Higher Point Leadership |
$7,000.00 |
|
Paul Weiner |
$6,250.00 |
|
Borrus, Foley, Golden |
$6,000.00 |
|
Adams, Rehman, and Heggan |
$5,000.00 |
|
Bowman and Company |
$5,000.00 |
|
Carpenters Union |
$5,000.00 |
|
Laborers Union |
$5,000.00 |
|
McManimon and Scotland – attorneys |
$5,000.00 |
|
Robert Paulus |
$5,000.00 |
|
John Parker – attorney |
$4,250.00 |
|
BGIA |
$4,000.00 |
|
Dennis Enright |
$4,000.00 |
|
Bill Neary for Mayor |
$3,500.00 |
|
J. Kane – attorney |
$3,500.00 |
|
Bayshore |
$3,000.00 |
|
Charles Carley |
$3,000.00 |
|
Concetta Gerbi |
$3,000.00 |
|
Neglia Engineering |
$3,000.00 |
|
Robert Morrison |
$3,000.00 |
|
Nicholas Rentas |
$2,600.00 |
|
Realty Management Associates |
$2,600.00 |
|
Aforce |
$2,500.00 |
|
Convery, Convery, Shihar |
$2,500.00 |
|
JH Reid |
$2,500.00 |
|
MBI Gluckshaw |
$2,500.00 |
|
Harris Realty |
$2,000.00 |
|
John McManus |
$2,000.00 |
|
MK Management |
$2,000.00 |
|
Carr Eng. |
$1,750.00 |
|
Grand Sanitation |
$1,700.00 |
|
Aforce |
$1,500.00 |
|
Francisco Taddeo |
$1,500.00 |
|
Middlesex Medical Group |
$1,500.00 |
|
Bayshore Recycling |
$1,250.00 |
|
Lawrence Sacks – attorney |
$1,250.00 |
|
Raymond Lesniak |
$1,250.00 |
|
Albany Street Plaza |
$1,000.00 |
|
Cahn and Parra – attorneys |
$1,000.00 |
|
Christine Grippo |
$1,000.00 |
|
Elite Auto group |
$1,000.00 |
|
John Kwasnik – attorney |
$1,000.00 |
|
K-Land #11 |
$1,000.00 |
|
Lanzo and Son |
$1,000.00 |
|
Old Castle Pipe |
$1,000.00 |
|
multiple small contributors |
$76,250.00 |
|
|
$1,715,264.00 |
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can’t/won’t happen in Monmouth, due to a very restrictive pay-to-play resolution and policy, in place for many years.. at least we know why the Middlesex Dems have such a huge advantage over any other poor slobs even trying to run and win, there..with all that dough spent to keep the power in one party there, one would expect a much better- planned, and more attractive county, than what they’ve delivered over the years!..
Good reporting Art.
Wait Art didn’t write it so good job Harold.
Not so fast GOP. Greg Valesi is a regular at Monmouth GOP functions. Manalapan, Marlboro, CME plays both sides.
Watch out!
Who can forget CME Associates illegally wheeling in $15k to OC PAC to avoid pay to play in Middletown by donating in 2008 to Pat “was it a loan or a gift?” Walsh? Speaking of which, has she disclosed the answer to JJ Sullivan’s question on that?
wheeling can/does still go on, but the point is, a firm or individual can exercise their right to contribute to a candidate, but, in Monmouth, they will be disqualified if they exceed the limit in an election cycle.. that’s the difference..
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