The “West New York Forward” team headed by Public Affairs Commissioner and mayoral hopeful Cosmo Cirillo reported raising $96,075 with $53,105.28 cash on hand, according to an April 10th filing with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (NJ ELEC).
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
15 contributions from January 31st are from LLCs based of out Bergen, Passaic, and Hudson Counties, most of which are linked to multi-family apartment buildings rather than an individual donor.
Those groups all gave either $500 or $1,000 each, combining for a total of $9,000, the ELEC report shows.
Former West New York Mayor and ex-state Assemblyman Sal Vega, a political mentor of Cirillo, and Daniel Horgan, corporation counsel under Vega, both donated $1,000.
To that end, Al Bringa, who served as public safety director during that administration, donated $500, while Michelle Lopez, a commissioner during Vega’s tenure, chipped in $525.
Her donation is particularly unsurprisingly, given that her husband, Walter Lopez, is running on Cirillo’s ticket.
Another Cirillo running mate, outgoing Assemblywoman Angelica Jimenez (D-32), was chosen by Vega to run with the Hudson County Democratic Organization’s blessing, getting elected to the seat in November 2011.
Her campaign account gave $1,000 towards the team effort on December 12th, just three days after she announced she’d be a municipal candidate.
Cirillo is also the business administrator in neighboring Guttenberg and several members of Mayor Wayne Zitt’s administration have shown their support as well.
Saddlebrook Mayor Robert White, who works in Hudson County as the Guttenberg public safety director, donated $1,000 from his campaign account, while Councilman William Hokien donated $1,000.
Two of his colleagues, Council members Monica Fundora and Mark Rogers, chipped in $500 a piece as well. Slate mate Hiram Gonzalez, who works at Guttenberg Town Hall, added $750 to the cause on January 31st.
Additionally, on that same day, former West New York York Board of Education Vice President David Morel contributed $500.
The largest contribution to the slate as a whole was by far the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 825, who donated $20,000 on March 29th.
Conversely, WNY Forward’s largest expenditure in the report is a $12,897.17 check to Manasquan-based political consulting firm Stateside Affairs on March 15th.
Their opponents in the non-partisan May 9th race, the “Sires Team for West New York” led by former Congressman, Assembly Speaker, and Mayor Albio Sires, did not have a campaign finance report available on the NJ ELEC website as of Tuesday evening.
