Politics & Government

Occhipinti: I Had No Contact With Birdsall Donor

City Councilman Tim Occhipinti, who was among the recipients of secret campaign contributions from Birdsall Services Group, said he's never had contact with any of the firm's representatives.

Fourth Ward Councilman Tim Occhipinti, who was named in a Sunday Star-Ledger report as having received a secret campaign contribution from admitted pay-to-play violator Birdsall Services Group, said Monday that he'd never met any individual from Birdsall nor voted to award any contract to the disgraced engineering firm.

"I never met the individual," said Occhipinti, who noted that he double checked his 2010 campaign finance report after the Star-Ledger's report came out and was able to identify the in-question contribution that had been made by a Birdsall employee. "They either responded to a fundraising event invite and sent our campaign a check or they attended the campaign fundraising event that fall, but I don't know this individual personally."

Occhipinti said he had no inkling at the time that Birdsall might be involved in one of the most massive pay-to-play conspiracies in recent history.

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"We can't see into the future. We had no idea how Birdsall was operating," said the councilman, who received $299 from the firm one month before he won a seat on the council in 2010. "As an official you can't predict what they’re doing or know what they're doing. The only way to safeguard yourself from all this is to completely self-fund your campaign, which then means only wealthy people can run for elected office."

Occhipinti said he's normally cautious when it comes to accepting campaign money from engineering firms or professional service firms because of the potential for a conflict of interest down the road.

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"I've actually returned a check to a professional firm because they had a contract that was coming before the council and I didn't find it prudent to accept that contribution, even though it would have been legal," he said.

Occhipinti added that he's never voted on a Birdsall contract during his time on council. The city contracted the firm to perform environmental remediation at the 1600 Park and Hoboken Cove sites in September and November of 2009, the year before he joined the council.

While Occhipinti said giving back the money he received from Birdsall in 2010 would make it appear as if he had done wrong by taking it — which he attests is not the case — Occhipinti said he would be willing to make a donation to an unspecified Hoboken charity in the amount of Birdsall's secret campaign contribution.


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