With more than a week after the October 6th deadline for the 29-Day Pre-General Election Campaign Finance Reports, all but one of the candidates for municipal government office have yet to have their filings received by NJ ELEC – the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission – according to their website and Deputy Director Joe Donahue.
“If we received it through yesterday, it’s going to be up there today,” said Mr. Donahue.
As of 11:30 a.m. this morning, the only candidate to file the 29-Day Report of Contributions and Expenditures and have it posted online is Carl Hokanson.
Such reports are due a little under a month before the general election to allow the public the opportunity to see who is contributing to a candidate along with the amount of each donation. These forms can be submitted immediately either electronically online, sent via fax, or delivered through postal mail. NJ ELEC guidelines stress, however, that ‘it is important to allow enough time for the report to be physically received at the Commission’s office on the filing due date.’
One of two forms needs to be filled out by candidates – either a Form A-1 or Form R-1. Form R-1 is for any candidate who has spent more that $4,500 in an election. Form A-1 is to be used by a candidate if he or she spends less than $4,500 in an election; the form is to be filed even if no money is spent during the election. Carl Hokanson filed a Form R-1.
Additionally, out of the six (6) municipal candidates, half of them did not file any of the required forms for the Primary Election either, meaning no reports related to contributions are available to the public. The candidates who do not have any forms filed with NJ ELEC for this election (either the primary or general) are:
- Patricia Jordan (Republican 1st Ward Council Candidate)
- Eugene Meola (Democratic 1st Ward Council Candidate)
- Richard G. Templeton, III (Republican Council-At-Large Candidate)
Both Charlene Storey – the Democratic Council-At-Large candidate – and Republican Mayoral candidate Michael Yakubov have not filed the required 29-day pre-election reports as of yet, according to NJ ELEC. Candidates Meola, Storey, and Yakubov have all run in previous elections and should have been familiar with the deadlines. It should be noted that Charlene Storey has been dealing with a serious personal family matter that arose suddenly.
Along with Candidate Reports, reports from Political Party Committees are due every quarter and are due today, October 15th, with the previous filing date being July 16th. NJ ELEC records show that no reports have been submitted by the Roselle Park Republican Municipal Committee at all this year. The Roselle Park Democratic Committee did file their reports by the July deadline date.
NJ ELEC sends courtesy notices to candidates to remind them of the deadlines. If a candidate or their party fails to file the required forms by the deadline, fines and penalties could be imposed.
The next important filing date for the 2014 General Election candidates is the 11-Day Pre-Election Report which will be due on October 24, 2014.
Filings for candidates can be viewed at the NJ ELEC website (link). For information on current municipal election reports, visitors should choose Roselle Park Borough under the ‘LOCATION’ option and then choose 2014 for the year.