Has the GT Mayoral/Council Election Been Bought?

Have you seen the billboards on the BHP in Blenheim at the Rt. 42 Freeway? Not only a Team-Mayer billboard but a “Gilch, Reese, and Collins for BOE” billboard right next to it. Talk about eye pollution. One is only jolted awake while daydreaming about how much that School Board Election billboard cost by the ludicrous message it proclaims, “Let’s Take Back Our Schools.”

Numerous citizens are astounded by this message because the failing schools have been run by these individuals for years. Who then are they threatening to take the schools back from? Some PHD-type named Publius tried to post on Patch a circular high-minded diatribe about what a great job the incumbent BOE candidates were doing but was essentially skewered by the regular people reading her puff-piece. Do yourself a favor and vote for Bobbe, Gagliardi and Hengst for BOE. That's the only selection that makes sense.

As a candidate for Gloucester Township Council myself, I’ve wondered about the bottomless pockets of the Democrats and how much one would spend to win this election and why. In addition to the billboards, Team-Mayer also plastered the township with flyers promoting themselves as the Green Team in a field they mean to plow up and boasting about their plans to reduce CO2 gases by using solar at our schools that necessitated cutting trees down so as to reward their friends and operatives in the solar panel business. Somebody forgot to tell them that trees naturally remove CO2 from the atmosphere.

Finally, on top of the billboards and flyers, Team-Mayer is spending a boatload of money on TV ads. I’ve seen them on Fox News and TNT and was told by a friend that they were also on CNN. Where’s all the money coming from? That’s what I set out to uncover.

As of the 29-Day Pre-Election filing required by the NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission (filed on October 7th, 2013) Team Mayer has raised $111,883.74 and spent $98,101.45 on the upcoming election. I would imagine in the final days of the election that number will be dwarfed but let’s work with only what we know.

Let’s talk about major contributors to Team-Mayer. (In order to save space I have combined contributions made prior to the Primary election with those made after as most of the contributors donated more than once.)

Association of Former GT Democrat Mayors: $20,800.00

Remington and Vernick Engineers Inc:         $20,800.00

The Chairman's Club:                               $14,400.00

GT Citizens For Government Reform:           $10,400.00

It is important to note that a number of these donors are actually Democrat Political Action Committees. Indeed, it should be remembered that our Democrat Council had the opportunity to deal with PACs but under the leadership of councilman Dan Hutchison offered up a totally useless piece of legislation that made noise about Super PACs but did nothing to control Pay-to-Play. He did withdraw his legislation but a so-called citizen’s group resubmitted the very same thing in a petition that went on the ballot. As proved by this blog, Pay-to-Play is alive and well in Gloucester Township.

The point about the PACS is that I did not have the time to search through the ELEC forms of the various PACs donating to Team-Mayer but you can be assured that the same donor names and more will be found on the PAC ELEC forms as are seen here. So, here are the Democrat PACs:

Assoc. of Former GT Democrat Mayors:  $20,800.00

The Chairman’s Club:                           $14,400.00

GT Citizens For Government Reform:      $10,400.00

GT Parents for Educational Excellence:   $1,620.00

A total of $47,220.00 was contributed to Team-Mayer through PACs but incumbent councilman, Team-Mayer-Player, Dan Hutchison had the gall to tell us that PACs are not a problem…Super PACs are the only moneyed entities we have to fear of taking over our township.

One should ask why the Remington and Vernick engineering firm donated over $20,000 to Team-Mayer. Does the fact that they are awarded multiple township contracts bear witness to you of a problem? Who are Bach Associates ($6,000) of Haddon Heights, Pennoni Associates Inc ($5,000) of Philadelphia, R D Zeuli ($4,000) of West Berlin, Pettit Associates Inc ($3,000) of Berlin, etc.? What stake do they all have in Gloucester Township? Do they fear losing lucrative township contracts by refusing to donate? Or is it that they are happy to donate to remain in the good graces of Team-Mayer?

Is all this money changing hands in Gloucester Township a problem? I think so, how about you? I remember a question that is now burned into my mind asked at one house I visited. The woman who answered the door asked me where I’d been for 20 years. It was a generic question not directed to me. She was frustrated that she had lived in the township over twenty years and had never had a candidate come to her door. She was fed up with business as usual in Gloucester Township.

When you raise over $100,000 (and make no mistake that number will probably hit $200,000) for a mayoral/council campaign from firms to whom you have awarded contracts, you really don’t need to go door to door. You take the voters for granted and assume they’ll vote for you. You attempt to ridicule your opponents and, when all else fails, you lie to the voters about what you’ve done and you make empty promises about what you are doing.

Have you had enough yet? Vote Gloucester Township FIRST on Nov. 5th.

Vote Brown, DiBartolo, Kline and Pauli.

For the record and as way of disclosure, Gloucester Township FIRST, to date, has taken in $5681.80 and spent $3503.58.

Visit us at http://www.gloucestertownshipfirst.com