Pay-to-play: Which NJ politicians received the most cash from government contractors?

Companies reaping a combined $15.1 billion in public contracts in New Jersey donated a total of $8.8 million to New Jersey politicians and parties last year, an off-state election cycle, according to a Thursday report from the state elections watchdog. That’s a 15% decrease from 2021, when the governor and Legislature were on the ballot.

“Political donations ebb and flow,” Jeff Brindle, the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission's executive director, said in a statement. “Just as a bay rises when there is a storm surge, contributions swell during a major election.”

Remington & Vernick Engineers, which held $56 million in public contracts, wrote $588,000 worth of checks, the most among contractors reporting. Engineering consultant CME Associates, which held $50 million in contracts, donated $472,000. And the civil engineering firm T&M Associates, with $33 million in contracts, contributed $356,000 in politics.

Rainone Coughlin Minchello LLC, the law firm of Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, donated $168,800 and collected $7.6 million in contracts. That's an increase from the $6.6 million in contracts in 2021 and $5.9 million in 2020.

Engineers ($4 million) and lawyers ($2.3 million) made up 70% of the total contributions.

Middlesex politicians top the recipients list

Middlesex County politicians topped the list of recipients of contractor cash. Commissioner Charles Kenny collected the most, with $100,000, followed by Commissioner Claribel Azcona-Barber, with $91,000, Sheriff Mildred Scott, with $90,000, and Commissioner Chanelle Scott McCullum, with $86,000.

Senate President Nicholas Scutari received $87,000 from contractors last year, and his predecessor Stephen Sweeney, who was ousted from his seat in 2021, collected $77,000.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield is the donor with the largest amount in reported contracts, with $10.4 billion. Verizon follows, with $1.1 billion in contracts, then Spencer Savings Bank, with $452 million, and South State Inc., with $238 million. Spencer, based in Parsippany, is the deposit account for a number of authorities, counties and municipalities in the state.

Who must report

Under state law, businesses that receive $50,000 or more in public contracts must report to ELEC their contract amounts and political contributions they made to candidates and committees, though not to independent expenditure groups such as super PACs or political nonprofits.

Firms with state contracts worth more than $17,500 are not allowed to donate more than $300 to candidates and committees, but there is a large exception, the “fair and open” loophole.

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A contract can be awarded to a company that made larger political contributions if the award was made through a “fair and open” process, a vague standard that could mean it was publicly announced in a newspaper or publicly bid.

Controversial campaign finance bill

Until this week, municipalities could enact stricter rules that banned all political donations by contractors, but Gov. Phil Murphy signed a massive, controversial campaign finance bill into law that eliminated all local provisions in favor of the statewide rule.

He also expanded the “fair and open” provision to executive branch contracts, a loophole former Gov. Jim McGreevey closed in 2005.

The Elections Transparency Act also removed limits on contractors donating to state, county and municipal political parties and legislative leadership committees.

“For nearly 20 years, we've had some sort of rules in this state to limit the ability of businesses that get government contracts to not get them corruptly, to bar them from giving contributions to the exact people who are going to give them the awards,” said Phillip Hensley, democracy policy analyst with the League of Women Voters. “This bill guts all those protections statewide, and guts them with respect to the executive branch. We're gonna go back to the old days, the Wild West.”

Confusing patchwork

Proponents argued that the patchwork of laws was confusing to “small, women-owned and minority” businesses that wanted to participate in the political process but didn’t have the resources to grasp the confusing web of regulations. And disclosure is key to understanding whether contracts are going to companies that most deserve them or merely those that paid the most in dues.

“Having a free press that can track those contributions, who made them and then who received contracts, that is what helps us disclose those pay-to-play antics, and that only happens when it can be disclosed,” said Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald, a sponsor of the bill.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ politicians who got the most donations from contractors in 2022