LD 12 Assembly candidate Gene Davis. LD 11 Assemblyman Eric Houghtaling and Phil Murphy are in the background. photo via @DavisforAssembly
Gene Davis, one the of LD 12 Democrat Assembly candidates, asked his opponent in the 2010 Democrat primary for Linden’s 5th ward council seat to withdraw from that election in exchange for his pledge to support her and “give” her his council seat when his plan to be appointed mayor came to fruition, according to NJTODAY.
Rhashonna Cosby-Hurling, Davis’s opponent, turned down the bribe, recorded the conversation, defeated Davis in the primary and went on the be elected the first African-Amerian woman elected to the Linden City Council, Ward 5.
Here’s Cosby-Hurling’s recording: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: September 7th, 2017 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2017 Elections, Monmouth County News | Tags: 2017 Legislative election, Burlington County Democrats, Gene Davis, LD 12, Linden City Council, Linden City Council Ward 5, Middlesex County Democrats, Monmouth County Democrats, Monmouth County News, NJ 12th Legislative District, Ocean County Democrats, Rhashonna Cosby-Hurling, Robert Bunk | 1 Comment »
NJ ELEC needs to improve its service to the citizens of New Jersey
By Harold V. Kane
Harold V. Kane
The print and electronic media have, since last September, shone a spotlight on the Middlesex County Democrats fundraising activities. The Democrats established a number of Political Action Committees designed to subvert the 2006 changes to the NJ election finance laws. The question arises-why did they think that they could get away with it, when all contributions are reported to the NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission. One answer could be because of a flaw in the ELEC computer program. The ELEC program is, at best, difficult to use. However once persons making queries understands how the programs work, then they also determine that all contributions and expenditures are there, somewhere. Even the administrators/treasurers for the Democrat PACs dutifully complied with the reporting requirements.
The ELEC reporting program offers a category of “Simple Search by Contributor”. When a user clicks on this category a page opens that states: “The Simple Search will search the campaign finance database for a contributor to campaigns, Political Party Committees, Legislative Leadership Committees and Political Action Committees.” Except that it doesn’t!
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: May 5th, 2012 | Author: admin | Filed under: Harold Kane | Tags: Campaign Cash, Campaign Finance, CME, CME Engineering, ELEC, Harold V. Kane, Jay Cornell, Middlesex County Democrats, New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission | Comments Off on ELEC Reporting Lacks Transparency
Politickernj writers Darryl Isherwood and Max Pizarro posted an in depth piece yesterday afternoon that exposes an incestuous web of influence driving planning, zoning and development approvals before the Middlesex County Freeholder Board and several municipal planning boards in the county.
State Senator Bob Smith of Piscataway is the leader of the PACs that fund the campaigns of the Freeholders and municipal officials who approve the applications. The applicants are donors to the PACs. Smith is the applicants’ attorney.
It’s all legal. And no one would know about it if not for Harold Kane of Monroe Township painstakingly examining thousands of pages of ELEC reports to find out where all the Middlesex Democratic money was coming from and the good journalists at Politickernj and The Star Ledger following the money.
Smith, the Senator working the system, and Peter Barnes, the Assemblyman and Middlesex County Democratic Chairman who’s candidates benefit from the system, know the solution to this “craziness.” Barnes said that “any impetus to close the hole lies with the legislature.” Smith said, “There is a solution to the craziness we have now and that is publicly financed elections – or complete transparency. “In New Jersey, we have nothing but chaos. The state needs one set standard across the state.”
Where is their legislation? Smith and Barnes are both powerful members of the legislature. They obviously know how the work the system. They know how to fix it.
Sponsor the legislation gentlemen. Publicly financed elections won’t work. Complete transparency will.
Here’s a campaign finance system that would be transparent:
1) Remove all limits on campaign contributions.
2) Require that all candidates and campaigns disclose all contributions of any amount on a dedicated website within 24 hours of receipt.
3) Competing campaigns, good citizens like Kane, and good journalist will examine the donations and expose influence. Voters will decide if the influence is acceptable of not.
Correction: Peter Barnes, Jr, the Middlesex Democratic Chairman is no longer in the legislature. His son, Peter III is an Assemblyman.
Now there are two Barnes and a Smith who can advocate for legislation that creates complete transparency.
Posted: April 20th, 2012 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Campaign Contributions, Campaign Finance, ELEC, Middlesex County Democrats, NJ State Legislature | Tags: Assemblyman Peter Barnes, Darrly Isherwood, ELEC, Harold Kane, Max Pizarro, Middlesex County Democrats, Middlesex County PACs, PACS, Pay-to-play, Politickernj, Scandal, Senator Bob Smith, The Star Ledger | 12 Comments »
By Harold Kane and Art Gallagher
The legal money laundering of Assemblyman John Wisniewski in Middlesex County has been in the news this month as Politickernj and The Star Ledger brought to light the how Middlesex Democrats are circumventing state and local pay to pay laws by having government vendors, primarily the Middlesex based CME engineering firm, fund campaigns through PACs when the campaign finance laws prohibited contributions directly to the campaigns in jurisdictions where they were earning large fees.
Wisniewski, of Sayreville, is the Chairman of the State Democratic Party and the Assembly Transportation Committee.
Despite the fact that the PACs are run by his former staff members and fund campaigns in his district and county, Wisniewski says he has nothing to do with them. If that is true, the State Democratic Committee needs a new chairman. If it’s not true, the Democrats still should get a new chairman and the people of the 19th legislative district should elect a new Assemblyman.
Also in the news this month are the guilty pleas of insurance broker Frank Gartland of Federal Hill Risk Management. Gartland plead guilty to giving $2 million in bribes to Toms River School Superintendent Michael Ritacco, and to theft by deception and money laundering for bilking the Perth Amboy Board of Education, an Abbott district, out of more than $2 million.
Gartland also admitted to making illegal contributions to the campaigns of former Assemblyman and former Perth Amboy Mayor Joe Vas through “straw” contributors. Vas is now serving a 6 ½ year sentence for funneling illegal money from a real estate scheme into his unsuccessful 2006 congressional campaign. Vas was Wisniewski’s running mate and they represented the 19th district together in the Assembly from 2004-2009.
While all of this bribery, stealing and money laundering was going on, Gartland and his associates were also donating heavily to the Middlesex County PACS that Wisniewski says he has nothing to do with.
All information from NJ ELEC |
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Democracy in Motion PAC |
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12 Deerfield Road |
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Sayreville, NJ 08872 |
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democrat org |
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Christina Montorio – Treasurer |
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Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Frank Gartland |
1/16/2009
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$3,200.00
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Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Frank Gartland |
10/16/2008
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$4,000.00
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Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Frank Gartland |
10/24/2008
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$3,200.00
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New Expectations PAC |
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2 Lincoln Highway, ste 511 |
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Edison, NJ 08820 |
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other ongoing cmte |
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Denise Anstett – Treasurer |
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AST Development – Robert D’Anton |
1/7/2009
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$5,000.00
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Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Diana Gartland |
1/7/2009
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$4,666.00
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Cmte for Efficiency in Government PAC |
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11 Barton Road |
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Mountain Lakes, NJ 07046 |
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other ongoing |
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Michael Revolinsky – Treasurer |
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Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Victor Bramble |
10/20/2008
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$1,300.00
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Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Diana Gartland |
10/20/2008
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$2,400.00
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Federal Hill Risk Mngt – John Hope |
10/20/2008
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$2,400.00
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Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Victor Bramble |
8/15/2007
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$2,000.00
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Dynamic Claims Mngt |
8/15/2007
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$1,000.00
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E-Administrative Systems |
8/15/2007
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$1,000.00
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Dynamic Claims Mngt |
10/17/2007
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$2,000.00
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Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Diana Gartland |
10/17/2007
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$2,000.00
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Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Derek Johnson |
10/17/2007
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$3,000.00
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Women for Good Government PAC |
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PO Box 11434 |
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New Brunswick, NJ 08906 |
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idealogical pac |
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Deborah Celey – Treasurer |
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Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Frank Gartland |
10/22/2008
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$2,600.00
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Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Diana Gartland |
2/9/2009
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$4,666.00
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Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Robert D’Anton |
2/9/2009
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$5,000.00
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Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Diana Gartland |
10/30/2008
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$4,666.00
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AST Development – Robert D’Anton |
10/30/2008
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$5,000.00
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Raritan Bay Leadership Fund |
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251 Livingston Avenue |
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New Brunswick, NJ 08901 |
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idealogical pac |
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David Lonski – Treasurer |
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Federal Hill Risk Mngt |
1/19/2006
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$2,000.00
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Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Diana Gartland |
1/28/2009
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$4,666.00
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Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Frank Gartland |
1/17/2008
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$2,600.00
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Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Diana Gartland |
10/30/2008
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$4,666.00
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Committee for Civic Responsibility |
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PO Box 184 |
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Kendall Park, NJ 08824 |
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68 Old Road, Princeton, NJ 08540 |
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civic association |
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Bharat Patel – Treasurer |
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Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Derek Johnson |
6/9/2009
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$2,500.00
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19th District Democratic Leadership Fund |
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13 Zaleski Drive |
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Sayreville, NJ 08872 |
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Michael D’Addio – Treasurer |
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Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Frank Gartland |
1/16/2009
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$3,200.00
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Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Frank Gartland |
10/16/2008
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$4,000.00
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$82,730.00
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Wisniewski and Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni, a former Republican State Senator, got into it this week over the PACS and Wisniewski using his authority as chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee to issue subpoenas requiring that Port Authority executives appear before his committee. Baroni accused Wisniewski of a “shakedown” because CME did not receive preferential treatment while pitching their engineering services to Port Authority.
In response, Wisniewski said “the truth is an expendable commodity” for the “Christie character assassination team”
Let’s see some truth from Wisniewski regarding these PACS, including what quid pro quo Gartland received for his “contributions.”
Posted: April 15th, 2012 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Pay-to-play | Tags: Art Gallagher, Bill Baroni, CME Engineering, Federal Hill Risk Management, Frank Gartland, Harold Kane, John Wisniewski, Middlesex County, Middlesex County Democrats, NJ ELEC, Port Authority | 21 Comments »
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 |
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From Jan. 1 2008 to August 1, 2011 |
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PAC |
Total Contr. |
CME Amount |
CME % |
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Coalition for Government Efficiency |
$130,350.00 |
$50,000.00 |
38.00% |
Box 263, Eatontown |
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Democracy in Motion PAC |
$189,716.00 |
$65,000.00 |
34.00% |
12 Deerfield Road, Sayreville |
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New Expectations PAC |
$196,066.00 |
$60,000.00 |
30.00% |
2 Lincoln Highway, ste 511, Edison |
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Cmte for Efficiency in Government PAC |
$38,500.00 |
$26,000.00 |
67.00% |
11 Barton Road, Mountain Lakes |
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Women for Good Government PAC |
$238,616.00 |
$75,000.00 |
32.00% |
250 George St, New Brunswick |
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Raritan Bay Leadership Fund |
$203,466.00 |
$77,500.00 |
38.00% |
251 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick |
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Committee for Civic Responsibility |
$222,450.00 |
$70,000.00 |
31.00% |
68 Old Road, Princeton |
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People Energizing Government PAC |
$136,900.00 |
$50,200.00 |
37.00% |
105 Morristown Road, ste 105, Bernardsville |
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Higher Point Leadership |
$59,300.00 |
$28,000.00 |
47.00% |
1377 Main Street, Millstone Borough |
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Citizens for Green Environment |
$119,350.00 |
$60,000.00 |
50.00% |
1102 Hazelwood Avenue, Middlesex Borough |
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Bergen County Young Democrats |
$35,900.00 |
$8,500.00 |
24.00% |
14 Brinkerhoff Avenue, Teaneck |
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19th District Democratic Leadership Fund |
$144,650.00 |
$51,000.00 |
35.00% |
13 Zalewski Drive, Sayreville |
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$1,715,264.00 |
$621,200.00 |
36% avg |
CME
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$621,200.00
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T & M Associates
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$167,500.00
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Gartland – Federal Hill Risk Management
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$95,864.00
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Federal Business Centers
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$85,700.00
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Richard Alaimo
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$77,700.00
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EPIC
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$66,300.00
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Houdlik & Morrison
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$47,300.00
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Feist Engineering
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$46,600.00
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Remington Vernick
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$46,400.00
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NAIK Consulting
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$31,800.00
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Shain, Schaefer, and Raffanello
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$29,500.00
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Omar Boraie
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$17,700.00
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Martin Murphy
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$16,000.00
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Larry Berger
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$15,500.00
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Golden, Rothschild, et al
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$15,000.00
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Omland Corp
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$15,000.00
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Klein Advertising
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$14,400.00
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Eric Bernstein – attorney
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$13,200.00
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Lori Dvorak – attorney
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$11,400.00
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Hoagland, Longo, Moran
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$11,200.00
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Dwyer, Connell – attorneys
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$10,500.00
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Michael J. Stone – attorney
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$10,500.00
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Elaine Flynn
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$10,000.00
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William Flynn – attorney
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$9,000.00
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Najarian Assoc
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$7,750.00
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David Klein
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$7,200.00
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Hatch Mott McDonald
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$7,200.00
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R3M Engineering
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$7,200.00
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Higher Point Leadership
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$7,000.00
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Paul Weiner
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$6,250.00
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Borrus, Foley, Golden
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$6,000.00
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Adams, Rehman, and Heggan
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$5,000.00
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Bowman and Company
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$5,000.00
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Carpenters Union
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$5,000.00
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Laborers Union
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$5,000.00
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McManimon and Scotland – attorneys
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$5,000.00
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Robert Paulus
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$5,000.00
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John Parker – attorney
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$4,250.00
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BGIA
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$4,000.00
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Dennis Enright
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$4,000.00
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Bill Neary for Mayor
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$3,500.00
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J. Kane – attorney
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$3,500.00
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Bayshore
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$3,000.00
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Charles Carley
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$3,000.00
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Concetta Gerbi
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$3,000.00
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Neglia Engineering
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$3,000.00
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Robert Morrison
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$3,000.00
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Nicholas Rentas
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$2,600.00
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Realty Management Associates
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$2,600.00
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Aforce
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$2,500.00
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Convery, Convery, Shihar
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$2,500.00
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JH Reid
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$2,500.00
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MBI Gluckshaw
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$2,500.00
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Harris Realty
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$2,000.00
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John McManus
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$2,000.00
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MK Management
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$2,000.00
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Carr Eng.
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$1,750.00
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Grand Sanitation
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$1,700.00
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Aforce
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$1,500.00
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Francisco Taddeo
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$1,500.00
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Middlesex Medical Group
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$1,500.00
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Bayshore Recycling
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$1,250.00
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Lawrence Sacks – attorney
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$1,250.00
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Raymond Lesniak
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$1,250.00
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Albany Street Plaza
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$1,000.00
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Cahn and Parra – attorneys
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$1,000.00
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Christine Grippo
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$1,000.00
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Elite Auto group
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$1,000.00
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John Kwasnik – attorney
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$1,000.00
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K-Land #11
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$1,000.00
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Lanzo and Son
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$1,000.00
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Old Castle Pipe
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$1,000.00
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multiple small contributors
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$76,250.00
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$1,715,264.00
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Posted: September 13th, 2011 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: CME Associates, Harold V. Kane, Middlesex County Democrats | Tags: CME, Harold V. Kane, Middlesex County Democrats | 10 Comments »