PATERSON — Three incumbent council members seeking re-election to City Council, Ruby Cotton, Michael Jackson and Shahin Khaliq, missed state deadlines to file their first two campaign finance reports.
Two other sitting members, Al Abdelaziz and Luis Vélez, had their first reports due 29 days before the May 14 elections, but their second reports were due on May 3. The deadline was not met.
Alex Mendez is the only sitting City Council member to submit both reports to the New Jersey Elections Law Enforcement Commission.
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The report includes an itemized list of campaign contributors and is intended to inform voters about who is supporting various candidates. For example, Mendez received $26,734, including $1,000 from the Paterson Police Benevolent Association, $1,001 from a Dominican political action group, and $300 from his council colleague Abdelaziz, according to his report. is said to have received donations.
Who is donating to Cotton, Jackson and Khalik? With less than a week to go until the election, it remains unclear.
“Completion of these reports is currently underway,” Khaliq told the Patterson Press when asked about the backlog reports. “We are diligently gathering and verifying all necessary information to ensure accuracy and compliance. Thank you for your understanding. We will provide updates as they are submitted.”
Jackson said the campaign would submit its report on Thursday. Ms Cotton previously said the treasurer had been ill.
Seven of the 15 challengers in the District 6 race filed affidavits stating that they would not raise more than $5,800, which is the threshold for itemized reporting. Three of the challengers, Jace Abreu in District 5, Rodney Addison in District 1, and Aheya Khan in District 2, have not filed financial reports.
Fania Santana, who is pushing to unseat Mr. Jackson in the 1st District, filed both reports, showing that she paid $32,043 as the mayor seeks to oust Mr. Jackson. Approximately 10% of the money was shown to have come from Andre Sayegh's friends. His strongest critic of the governing body.
Assad Akhter, who is seeking to unseat Mendez in the 3rd District, has raised a total of $47,575, including $24,800 listed in his 11-day pre-election report, according to the latest report. That's what it means.
Mr. Achter, who serves as Gov. Phil Murphy's political affairs director, appears to be cashing in on his connections around New Jersey. His latest report showed about $20,000 came from donors with addresses outside Passaic County, many from Mercer and Middlesex.
Hiding behind the mudslinging in the sheriff's election
The 6th Paterson City Council seat was a Democratic primary for Passaic County Sheriff held on June 4th between Jerry Speziale, the city's public safety director, and Thomas, a longtime Republican now backed by Democratic organizations. At times, he was overshadowed by the feud he had with Mr. Adamo.
Some Paterson City Council candidates have openly declared their allegiance to either Speziale or Adamo. For example, Jackson and his 4th District challenger, Justin Rucker, said they support Speziale. Abdelaziz and Akhter said they support Adamo.
Some declined to comment on their positions on the sheriff's primary or said they had no preference.
Political observers said they expected some of the candidates for Congress to announce support for the sheriff once their own elections are over. Otherwise, the operatives said, candidates risk alienating one side or another in the sheriff's race and harming their own campaigns.
Khaliq, for example, said only that he is “very focused” on his re-election. Velez said bipartisan congressional races are different from Democratic primaries. District 2 challenger Frank Filippelli said he is an independent.
“I don't play party games,” Filippelli said.
District 5 challenger David Hsu said he would not support either person in the sheriff's primary, but would likely vote for Adamo.
Last December, a new Latino political group, New Jersey Dominican American Political Force, was formed in Paterson, and its leaders announced plans to endorse candidates in the city's ward elections. One of the group's goals was to increase the number of Latinos in elected office in a city where the population is about 70 percent Hispanic, according to U.S. Census figures.
In the end, the Dominican organization chose not to endorse anyone in five of the six district elections.
But last weekend, the group took to the streets to support Fania Santana in the 1st District. She is the only Latina candidate in the six-person race. Still, Miguel Diaz, one of the organization's founders in the Dominican Republic, said Santana's cultural background was not the reason she received the organization's support.
“She's the best candidate,” Diaz said. “She has no legal issues,” he added, referring to Jackson's pending election fraud case against her. “She's a very outspoken person and she's going to be a great leader for the city.”
Not all members of the Dominican-American group think Santana is the best choice. Another of the organization's founders, Eddie Olivares, is working on Jackson's campaign. Olivarez said he prefers Jackson because of the incumbent City Council member's willingness to confront the mayor rather than rubber stamp support for Sayegh's policies.
