Politics & Government

Republican Candidates Face Substantial Donation Deficit

Gloucester Township Democratic candidates raised 133 times as much as the Republican challengers in the primary.

Written by Lauren Burgoon with reporting by Zach DeRitis

It’s votes, not campaign donations, that ultimately decide an election. But can a team of challengers hope to win in November with just a tiny fraction of contributions as the incumbents?

That’s the situation Republican candidates for Gloucester Township mayor and council face as the November election draws closer.

Find out what's happening in Gloucester Townshipwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In the days after the uncontested primary election transitioned into campaigning for the general race, the Democrats had amassed $59,900. The Republicans: $450. That gave the Republican candidates a campaign war chest just 0.75 percent the size of the Democrats’ haul.

The campaigns don’t need to file updated financial disclosure forms until Oct. 10, and the $59,900 and $450 figures only account for contributions through June. But unless something drastic changes, the Republican slate can likely expect a significant financial deficit compared to the Democrats.

Find out what's happening in Gloucester Townshipwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Not that the Republican challengers expected anything less, said Tom Crone, the GOP campaign spokesman. His slate—Tanya Brown for mayor and Paul DiBartolo, Patricia Kline and Joe Pauli for council under the name Gloucester Township First—is running a “grassroots campaign” that focuses on door-to-door campaigning.

“It’s very difficult for any non-incumbent to mount a campaign against long-time, entrenched political machines. And the Gloucester Township Democrats are a machine,” Crone said. “The Democrats are well funded by professionals and other law firms, engineering firms and other corporations that want to do business with the town.”

The Democratic slate is David Mayer for mayor and Dan Hutchison, Frank Schmidt and Michelle Winters for council, running under the name Team Mayer. None returned messages requesting comment.

Crone rebuked Team Mayer for its contributions from appointees who do business with the township.

Contributions in the primary campaign to the Democrats came from the municipal engineering firm ($10,400), the Gloucester Township Municipal Utilities Authority’s engineering firm ($2,000) and the township prosecutor’s law firm ($2,500), among others.

Team Mayer also had a significant financial boost in primary election fundraising from two $10,400 donations from Democratic-affiliated political action committees in town.

The Republicans’ $450 came from donors giving less than $300, so the names of contributors don’t have to be reported.

Donations to campaigns from contractors and appointees are not illegal. But Crone said such contributions shouldn’t sit well with voters, and called it a “friends and family plan versus an honest grassroots effort.”

Online, at least, the Democratic and Republican candidates appear more evenly matched in the election. Both have websites (Team Mayer, Gloucester Township First) and roughly the same number of Facebook fans.

But there’s no denying a hefty campaign fund makes outreach easier. The Democratic slate can afford to hire a strategic communications firm, for example. Team Mayer paid $5,190 for the firm’s services—11 times the Republicans’ primary campaign fund.

Crone said his team plans to bridge the financial gap by campaigning hard and in person.

“The difference is, that you can throw out all of the glossy mailers you want, all of the television commercials you want until the cows come home,” he said. “The difference is what the message happens to be.”


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here