Tough times for political fundraising

Local races make do with less in troubled economy, pres. races

BY CHRIS GAETANO Staff Writer

As the stock market plunges and credit dries up, political leaders from both parties reported an increased difficulty in securing funding for local campaigns, a phenomenon that could be attributed to the nation’s economic climate as well as the presence of presidential races this year.

In separate interviews with the Sentinel, the heads of both the Democratic and Republican parties in Middlesex County, as well as the chairs of the two parties in separate towns where local races are taking place, most reported that fundraising was more difficult this year than last.

Further research in the amount of money raised this October versus October of last year, through the Election Law Enforcement Commission database, shows diminished overall contributions, though in some cases, this has been part of an overall downward trend for total contributions from year to year. The Middlesex County Democratic Organization, on Oct. 14, had raised a total of $239,899 this year, versus $382,221 on Oct. 15 last year and $620,806 on Oct. 16 the year before that. The county GOP had not yet filed an equivalent report as of press time, though the political action committee through which the Republican freeholder candidates are running had filed their sworn statements at the beginning of this month. The Republicans, however, have also been seeing a downward trend in contributions during October, having raised $17,357 on Oct. 18 last year and $19,372 the year before that.

While most agreed that fundraising for local races was more difficult this year than last, opinions differed over how much of a setback this represented. Some, like Joe Spicuzzo, chairman of the Middlesex County Democratic Organization, said that while he is sure the party will be able to support local candidates like they have in the past, its assistance

might not be to the same extent as previous races. The county party organizations tend to send money to local candidates as well as maintain funding to run their own campaigns for freeholder. “Well, right now, we’re hoping that we’ll be able to fund our local candidates and county candidates the same way we’re doing, but it is, in fact, harder to raise money for our local political candidates and sometimes our county candidates, and we’re still trying to raise money. I’m sure we’ll be able to help our local and county candidates but I’m not sure I’ll be able to help them as much as we have

been in the past,” said Spicuzzo.

Richard Zangara, the chair of the North Brunswick Democratic Organization, was more optimistic. The chairman said that while the economy was having an effect on fundraising for local offices, he was not too concerned, because he has noticed a large number of people volunteering to donate their time, rather than their money, which he said has its own advantages.

“Definitely the economic downturn has hit everyone, and so it’s definitely had an effect … but I’m getting a lot of people who may not be able to donate, so to speak, regular individuals, it seems like every day … who want to help out, donating time, notmoney, which actually sometimes works out better.”

Zangara also stated that from the beginning, the campaign, where incumbent Democrats are running to maintain their council seats, has made it a point to be frugal, and so he said this difficulty hasn’t really affected them this year.

“So even with the economic downturn, by using good judgment and planning we can get our message out.… [The economy] hasn’t affected us that much except for overall morale, of just regular people. It’s hitting everyone,” said Zangara.

Charlie Bruno, the chairman of the East Brunswick Democratic Party, said it has been more difficult this year to raise funds than last year, but noted that the amount they have been getting is still “livable,” though, of course, any campaign could always use more money.

“We had to reach out to a lot more people than we normally do, different groups of people. We had a core of Republicans you can always count on to throw a few dollars, but they couldn’t contribute as much as they had in the past, so we had to go out to more Republicans, even some undecided, for donations, and we had to hold a lot of what you call ‘tea parties,’ where the candidates talk about their platform to get donations. So we had to work much harder this year than in previous years,” said Bruno.

Joe Leo, chairman of the Middlesex County Republican Organization, however, said he is skeptical that fundraising overall has become more difficult, regardless of the economy, and said that he wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that parties are drawing less money in a troubled economy. He pointed out that the Middlesex County GOP has traditionally drawn far less money than their Democratic opponents, and so fundraising has always been somewhat difficult. He also noted, for example, that there has been an increase in local fundraisers, which he attributed to reinvigorated local organizations in various towns.

“I measure the fact that I am out and talking at various fundraisers … and I’ve seen more of them this year than I saw last year, so I’m not sure whether this translates into [more] dollars, total dollars, but there seems to be more activity at the local level,” said Leo.

John Weingart, associate director of the Eagleton

Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, voiced similar reservations, saying it was too early to make an objective analysis of the topic. Even once the race is over, he said, there are still a number of confounding factors that might make drawing a correlation between economic health and campaign fundraising difficult. First, he said, is the tendency for campaigns to escalate their spending every year. The two parties tend to get into a financial arms race, with each side trying to raise more than their opponents raised last year. The bigger factor, however, is the fact that there’s a presidential race this

year where campaigns draw tens of millions of dollars.

“The presidential race, particularly for Democrats, has attracted so much money. … Many Democrats having contributed, during the primary and the general election, may mean they have less money or are giving less money to House or Senate candidates, but that said, the candidates are spending more money, too,” said Weingart.

He also pointed out that the economy really took a turn for the worse only about a month ago, while campaigns started earlier.

Contact Chris Gaetano at

[email protected].