Republicans want to put a cap on campaign spending this year
By: Brian Shappell
Republican candidates for council and mayor want to put a lid on campaign spending this year.
Mayoral candidate Larry Gildenberg and council hopeful Dawn Smith issued a press release Friday calling for spending on this year’s Township Council campaign to be limited to $40,000 for each political party.
Mr. Gildenberg and Ms. Smith said in the release they do not plan to exceed $40,000 on their campaigns and challenged their opponents to do the same.
Democrats Frank Gambatese and Chris Killmurray said this week they would consider the proposal, but did not think it was feasible given the number of voters that need to be reached.
Campaign spending has been on the rise in the township since 1996, when the Democrats first started receiving significant aid from the Middlesex County Democratic Organization. The Democrats spent about $102,000 in 2000, while the Republicans spent about $52,000. In 1998, the Democrats spent about $86,000 and the Republicans about $45,000.
Members of the Republican Party had called for a $50,000 spending cap in 2000 but Democrats never agreed.
Democrats won six of the eight council seats to be contested during the last two elections.
In a letter dated July 18 sent to the Democratic candidates, Mr. Gildenberg and Ms. Smith said candidates could not "ignore the reality of campaign fund-raising and campaign spending." They said the Republicans were willing to agree to a limit as low as $30,000 or $20,000 if the Democrats were interested in doing so.
Ms. Smith said spending limits are necessary because campaign spending is hindering the local political process by making it nearly impossible for the lesser-funded candidate to win in an election.
"We believe campaign spending has just gotten over the top in these local elections," she said. "Right now there are too many Daveys going against Goliaths. For a local candidate to have to go against someone with unlimited resources is ridiculous and obscene."
Mr. Gambatese, an incumbent councilman who is running for mayor, said he and his running mate have not discussed the GOP proposal. He said he would not rule out the idea, but added that a cap would be difficult because of the high cost of running a campaign that reaches residents in 14,000 housing units sprawled over 41 square miles.
"It’s expensive to run campaigns it costs $25,000 for one commercial and $10,000 to do a mailing," said Mr. Gambatese. "Our aim is to get our message out to the people. If we can do it for less money than we did two years ago, great."
Mr. Gambatese said it would be hard to turn away members of the party who wanted to make contributions to the campaign.
The Republicans say there needs to be a way to level the playing field.
"Two years ago we spent more than $60,000 on the 2000 campaign, and we were outspent by South Brunswick’s Democrats by roughly two-to-one," Mr. Gildenberg stated in the press release. "When the political process becomes reliant on excessive campaign fund-raising, the system can be nothing but terribly flawed."
Mr. Gambatese said part of the reason for the high spending in 2000 was because one of the party’s original candidates dropped out of the race. Frank Antisell was replaced by Charles Carley on the ticket. By then, much of the literature had been paid for.
Mr. Gambatese said one factor that would make him reluctant to a spending cap is that he believes the Republicans have "not been honest in their approach to fund-raising." He said lateness in filing information to the state Election Law Enforcement Commission is understandable because people have other jobs, but that the Republican Party has not reported contributors in the past.
According to ELEC, a $425 fine was levied several GOP candidates, including Mr. Gildenberg, in 1998. Nedda Massar, deputy legal director of ELEC, said the Republicans were late in filing information on contributors but that, "ultimately, everything was filed."
Mr. Gambatese also was fined by ELEC in 1982 for filing late when running for council in West Paterson, according to Ms. Massar. Members of the Democratic Party in South Brunswick also were fined in 2000 for filing late.