Jersey City Ward F council challengers Frank “Educational” Gilmore and Vernon Richardson have not filed any campaign finance reports, while Ward D council challenger Danielle Freire and mayoral challenger Lewis Spears are submitting late.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“Refusing to follow the laws and file mandatory campaign finance documents is just another example of the type of councilman Frank Gilmore would be,” Robinson said in a statement.
“He bragged on social media about raising $30,000 and he has held multiple public fundraisers to collect money yet this begs the bigger questions of where is the money, what was it spent on, and why isn’t Frank disclosing the information. Either Frank is not being truthful about how much he raised or he doesn’t care about complying with election laws, and either is problematic for Ward F.”
On October 1st, Gilmore posted on social media stating that he had raised $30,000 to date without taking a single donation from developers.
Since officially filing his candidacy with ELEC on July 2nd, Gilmore has not filed any subsequent reports with the state agency, despite posting about at least three fundraisers since then – including one last night.
Municipal candidates 29-day pre-election reports, which is meant to detail their third quarter fundraising, was due on October 4th. Gilmore’s campaign declined to respond to Robinson.
Robinson is running on Mayor Steven Fulop’s ticket, whose nine-person team has $731,323 cash on hand, as HCV first reported this week.
Vernon Richardson, an aide to Fulop who attacked both Gilmore and Robinson at last week’s debate, is the third candidate in the race. He has not filed any reports with ELEC this cycle, though said today he intends to do so.
This morning, Freire, who submitted her second quarter report on time in July, said she planned on filing this evening and reiterated that she still has not taken any donations from developers.
Finally, Spears, who filed as a candidate on May 17th and hasn’t submitted a report since then, showed HCV an e-receipt that indicated he filed last night, though the report was still not available on ELEC’s website this afternoon.
NJ ELEC Deputy Director Joe Donahue said that Spears did file last night, though it would not be available on their website until Monday.
He also said that reminder notices are sent to all candidates right before the filing deadline and then to those who didn’t file after the deadline passes.
While Donahue indicated he could only speak in generalities, as opposed to specifically to Jersey City, he stated that “non-filers are eventually referred for enforcement action.”
The non-partisan Jersey City municipal elections are on November 2nd.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with new information.
