Politics & Government

Pay-to-Play Compliance Officer Investigating Possible Campaign Finance Violations

City council candidate Eduardo Gonzalez filed a complaint Wednesday requesting an investigation into campaign contributions made to the mayor's candidate committee in excess of the city's pay-to-play ordinance.

The treasurer for Mayor Dawn Zimmer’s re-election committee responded to accusations made Wednesday by mayoral candidate Ruben Ramos charging that Zimmer had failed to return campaign contributions from two donors made in excess of the city’s pay-to-play ordinance by producing letters sent to each donor noting the refund of their excess donations.

Drew Moss, the treasurer for Friends of Dawn Zimmer Hoboken Mayor, said as soon as he became aware that contributions from Bernard Kenny of Hoboken-based law firm Florio & Kenny, LLP and Boswell Engineering exceeded the $300 limit for professionals with whom the city has contracts, he sent each a letter and a check for $300 to refund their excess contributions.

“Compliance with both the Hoboken Municipal Code and NJ ELEC is paramount,” Moss said in an email. “While the pay-to-play reform law makes the vendor responsible for tracking contributions and requesting any needed refunds, our policy is to proactively return excess contributions as soon as identified.”

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The refund letters are dated July 25, 2013, more than three months after each donor had exceeded its aggregate contribution limit and 10 days after Zimmer’s candidate committee filed its latest report of contributions and expenditures with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission. As a result, the refunds are not noted in the committee’s most recent report on the ELEC website.

Eduardo Gonzalez, who is running for council-at-large on Ramos’ Vision for Hoboken slate, filed a formal complaint with the city’s pay-to-play compliance officer Wednesday and requested an investigation into the contributions by Kenny and Boswell Engineering.

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Hoboken Code § 20A-12 makes clear that the City of Hoboken cannot enter into a contract with any business entity that contributes more than $300.00 to a candidate committee,” Gonzalez’s complaint states. “Because both Mr. Kenny’s and Boswell Engineering’s contributions to Mayor Zimmer exceed the $300.00 contribution limitation, these contributions, and Mayor Zimmer’s acceptance of them and failure to return them within 45 days of the date of the contributions, constitute a material breach of Hoboken’s Pay-To-Play Ordinance.”

By city ordinance § 20A-15, a vendor may cure a violation of the pay-to-play ordinance if, within 45 days, it notifies the municipality in writing of the overage and seeks and receives reimbursement of the contribution. However, that burden was not met in this instance.

It was unclear Thursday whether the city’s contracts with Florio & Kenny, which handles litigation for the city and serves as its Rent Board attorney, or Boswell Engineering, which provides engineering services for the city, would be voided by their violation of the pay-to-play ordinance.

“My understanding is that their contracts are revoked immediately,” Councilman Michael Russo said at Wednesday’s city council meeting, before asking corporation counsel Melissa Longo to look into each vendor's violations and possible penalties.

City spokesman Juan Melli said Thursday that Hoboken’s pay-to-play compliance officer had received Gonzalez’s complaint and would investigate the matter.

“The compliance officer will investigate the issues raised by Mr. Gonzalez and will conduct a thorough review of all campaign finance reports filed by all of the candidates in the upcoming election and will advise the Mayor and the City Council if any further action is appropriate,” Melli said.


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