Vijay Chaudhuri, Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla’s chief of staff, received $13,000 from his boss and his council allies during a relatively uneventful first quarter of 2023, reports filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission show.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Bhalla, who is in his second term and not up for re-election until November 2025, reports $130,965.56 cash on hand, though just $6,100 was raised with $14,323.85 spent on the first quarter, according to his April 17th report filed with NJ ELEC.
His donations came from three entities: $2,500 from the New Jersey State Laborers’ PAC, $1,000 from Acting Fire Chief Anton Peskens, and $2,600 from Michael Spears, a North Carolina resident who works for a Bergen County-based company.
Chaudhuri, who earns $135,000 annually at City Hall and also serves as the campaign treasurer for Bhalla and four of his allies on the city council, received $6,000 on February 6th from the mayor for compliance, legal, and accounting services, the report says.
Council President Emily Jabbour paid him $500 for accounting services and then an additional $1,500 for a campaign manager expense related to their November 2021 mayor and council-at-large races.
Councilmen-at-Large Jim Doyle and Jim Quintero also reported the same identical expenses, while 5th Ward Councilman Phil Cohen paid $1,000 for compliance/accounting.
Also of note, Jabbour, Doyle, and Quintero paid Rob Horowitz, of Rhode Island-based Rob Horowitz and Associates, $1,500 for research and polling, while Cohen paid him $1,600 and Bhalla wrote a check of $5,000, for a total of $11,100.
The biggest flux of campaign cash is flowing into the 5th Ward.
While Cohen only raised $2,050 in Q1, he has a hefty $36,829.28 cash on hand, according to his April 17th campaign finance report.
His declared challenger, Liz Urtecho, raised the most of any Hoboken council member of candidate in Q1, bringing in $16,928.94 – which includes a $3,000 loan – and $11,268.31 cash on hand, her April 14th ELEC report shows.
2nd Ward Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher reported $5,763.13 cash on hand as of April 15th, which includes a $2,500 loan.
4th Ward Councilman Ruben Ramos, who just held his campaign kickoff on Thursday, reports $8,522.98 cash on hand, while 1st Ward council challenger Paul Presinzano has a similar early war chest: $8,170.70, according to their respective ELEC reports.
No one else on the city council had a report available on NJ ELEC’s website as of Monday evening.
The non-partisan Hoboken City Council races for the six ward seats are set for November 7th.