The Hudson County Democratic Organization raised $60.60 in the first quarter of 2022 and has $121,699.08 in debt, according to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
The first quarter reports for all 21 Democratic county committees were released by ELEC today as part of a report showing that they have more than five times the cash on hand the Republicans have.
Despite the HCDO raising well under $100 in Q1 this year, they actually didn’t have the worst quarter among blue committees, with the Mercer County Democrats raising just $5 total.
While the HCDO reported a closing balance of $17,075.32 on their April 16th report, they are still plagued with $138,774.40 in outstanding loans and obligations.
Almost all of them are at least a decade old, including $30,000 from the Mark Smith for mayor account – Bayonne’s top municipal elected official between 2009 and 2014.
Their biggest debt owed is to Sarkisian Florio Kenny, which is now Florio Kenny Reval LLP, which is $35,762.11 from December 31st, 2010, the report says.
HCDO Treasurer Craig Guys says that their organization operates different from many in the state and that he has commitments to get most of the debt forgiven by the time the next ELEC report is due.
“Hudson is different than some of the other organizations around the state like Camden, Bergen, or Essex: the mayor’s ELECs are more important than the entity,” said HCDO Treasurer Craig Guy.
“In order to have an event for the organization, it has to make sense for all 12 mayors and we don’t raise money to give money to statewide candidates, but we try to elect strong mayors and put a strong delegation in place. We do look forward to relieving most of that debt, about 90 to 95 percent, in this next quarter.”
