Bhalla Makes Counter-allegations Against Mason

In a meeting with reporters at his downtown law offices this morning, Councilman-at-large Ravi Bhalla shot back at Councilwoman Beth Mason, accusing her mayoral campaign of illegally using "street money" leading up to last year's mayoral election.

Yesterday, Mason called for Bhalla to resign after reports in the Star-Ledger and The Jersey Journal suggested that Bhalla violated the spirit of NJ Pay-to-Play law and revealed Bhalla's law firm had failed to file a Business Entity Annual Statement (BE) with the NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) on time. Bhalla filed the report with ELEC on Saturday after being made aware of what he described as an honest oversight.

In response to Mason publicly calling for Bhalla to resign, Bhalla said he was made aware of serious mistakes made by the Mason campaign during the 2009 mayoral election, which carry criminal penalties.

According to Bhalla, Mason's campaign filed its Form R-1, a report detailing a campaign's contributions and expenditures, months late. Moreover, Bhalla said, the report reveals that the Mason campaign engaged in the illegal use of over $15,000 in "street money" in the days and weeks surrounding the May 12 mayoral election. Bhalla says the infractions are "egregious violations of ELEC laws" that rise to the level of a fourth degree felony and are punishable by a prison sentence of 18 months.

Street money, also known as "walking-around money" or "get-out-the-vote money," is any of a variety of expenditures made to campaign workers to aid or promote a candidate or encourage the participation of voters in an election.

However, NJ statute 19:44A-11.7 prohibits candidates from distributing actual currency, or hard cash, to individual workers. Rather, campaigns are mandated to distribute the funds by way of a bank check made out to a recipient with a name and an address. Campaigns are prohibited from issuing bank checks made out to cash, which the law considers the functional equivalent of cash.

Bhalla alleged that Mason's campaign violated this law by issuing a total of 48 checks made out to cash that were distributed to a total of 152 individuals. As evidence, he provided the R-1 report Mason filed with ELEC on September 17, 2009. Attachment 1 of that document is the Mason campaign's General Ledger, which lists, among the checks issued to specific individuals, 48 checks made out to "cash" ranging in value from $120 to $525.

Attachment 2 of the report is an itemized list of the names of the individuals to whom those 48 checks were distributed and the amounts that each individual received. In some cases, the report reveals that as many as four individuals received funds from one bank check.

For instance, check number 1070 is listed in the General Ledger as having been issued in the amount of $300, but on Attachment 2 four individuals reportedly received check 1070 in four increments totaling $325. Bhalla said it's physically impossible for four individuals to have all cashed the same check. (Peruse the attached PDF to see the above-referenced documentation).

Bhalla also said that Mason's signature on the last page of the report, certifying that the statements on the document are true, is an admission of wrongdoing in and of itself.

"The very fact that she certified to a report is already an admission to [having made] a mistake," said Bhalla. He added that he would like Mason to make a public admission.

Bhalla admitted that his failure to file a BE was a mistake, which he said was punishable by a civil fine, but that Mason's transgressions are of a much more serious nature. He said it's incumbent upon candidates to follow the law and to own up to mistakes.

"I immediately admitted to it and corrected it in 24 hours," said Bhalla of not having filed the BE. "I would ask councilwoman Mason to admit that it is a mistake to make a check out to cash. It appears that her campaign was giving hard cash to workers."

Patch reached out to Mason for comment, but the second ward councilwoman couldn't be reached.

"I'm not asking for her to resign," Bhalla continued. "People make honest mistakes and people should have a chance to correct those mistakes."

For Mason, publicly admitting to having made such a mistake and then trying to cover it up, could open a whole new set of legal problems.

Bhalla said that ELEC, the state Attorney General's office and the Hudson County Prosecutor's office have overlapping jurisdiction over the decision to launch an investigation into the matter, but that ELEC typically handles these types of matters before the courts make inquiries.

Bhalla declined to disclose what individual or group made him aware of the R-1 report and, when asked if he was contemplating resigning from his city council post, responded, "Of course not. Absolutely not."