[Community activist and former Trenton City Council 2010 candidate Juan] Martinez also worked on the campaign of current Mayor Eric Jackson, but not on any of the mayor’s campaign contribution filings.
“Totally separate and apart,” Jackson said. The mayor said he hopes that elected officials and those involved in elections will pay close attention to the stringent rules of ELEC [NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission].
“As elected officials we have to do our very best to stay within the boundaries,” Jackson said. – Trenton Times, April 7, 2015
Which begs the obvious question. Is this your “very best”, Mayor Jackson?
Newly elected Mayor Eric Jackson collected about $88,000 in the final days leading up to the June 10 election, including some donations that were over the allowed limit, according to a post-election report his campaign filed with the state last week. – Trenton Times, July 25, 2014
And this:
Eric Jackson has shown his opponent the money, albeit four years after the fact.
A day after challenger Jim Golden asked his supporters to tweet Jackson “Where’s the money?” from his 2010 election campaign, the mayoral candidate filed amendments with the state…
Jackson had $23,770.94 remaining in his 2010 war chest before filing documents for the 2014 election, according to his April 30, 2010 campaign report. None of that money was carried over or reported how it was spent until last week…
In his amendments filed on April 1 [2-14], Jackson disclosed last quarter bills for his 2010 campaign…
“We did file the amended report and they got filed to ELEC late,” said Jackson, who is currently the Plainfield director of Public Works and Urban Development. “I take full responsibility for that.” – Trentonian, April 10, 2014
And this:
Although he has raised the most money by far in the race to be Trenton’s next chief executive, mayoral hopeful Eric Jackson has received several questionable campaign donations, according to reports filed with the state.
The Jackson campaign accepted nearly $2,000 in cash donations in December, but in reporting the money to the state the donors were never divulged, a violation of the state’s election reporting rules. “All cash contributions you would need disclosure,” said Joe Donohue, deputy director of the state Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC). “No donations are supposed to be anonymous,” he said. – Trenton Times, March 4, 2014
AND this:
Back in April, I wrote about a number of contributions to Mr. Jackson’s campaign from former US Senator turned real estate investor Robert Torricelli, in his own name as well as his Woodrose Properties LLC that in the aggregate exceeded the legal maximum for such contributions by $1000. Since none of the Jackson campaign’s recent ELEC reporting, nor Ms. Pizzi’s article last week, indicate that this excess contribution was returned to Mr. Torricelli, one can only assume that this still needs to be addressed by the Jackson campaign. – “And Another Thing,” August 4, 2014
This last item seems to have prodded the Jackson campaign into action. From an ELEC report filed on November 28, 2014 we can see this notation of a check written to reimburse a contributor only three days after this space reminded him:
It’s more than a little ironic to read Mayor “ZT” Jackson quoted in today’s newspaper about the importance of compliance with NJ campaign funding and reporting rules, when Mr. Jackson’s campaigns in 2010 and 2014 were notorious for both their tardiness, mistakes and violations. Mr. Jackson would be well advised to put his own house in order before he should feel comfortable in commenting on the foibles of other candidates such as Mr. Martinez.
For starters, the 11/28 report cited just above, covering the 3rd Quarter (July-September) of 2014 is the last one on file with ELEC. Mr. Jackson is currently three months late with a report that was due on January 15 of this year, which should have included activity for the 4th Quarter (October-December) of 2014. His next report, for the 1st Quarter of 2015 is due next Wednesday. Will he make it on time? Stay tuned.
And there are still a few land mines buried in his past ELEC reporting that may come back to haunt Mr. Jackson. I refer to the ICE PAC/Bridgeton Democratic Organization connection that I’ve been talking about for a year now. Both of those contributions, which taken together exceed the maximum allowed by the state, are still on Mr. Jackson’s campaign books as far as I can tell.
It’s all well and good for Mayor “ZT” Jackson to say, “As elected officials we have to do our very best to stay within the boundaries,” but his own campaigns show he is all too willing to draw outside the lines.