Mayor Fulop returns campaign cash to Jersey City vendor

Mayor Steve Fulop's re-election campaign and the Jersey City Democratic Committee have returned a total of $11,800 in donations tied to Suez, the company that manages the city's water system.

Fulop's campaign returned two donations, $1,000 on May 12 and $9,800 on June 28, and the JCDC returned $1,000 on June 28, according to campaign finance reports made public today.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index ... p_returns_campaign_c.html

Agency reviewing controversial Fulop donations from water company

JERSEY CITY -- Officials with the city Municipal Utilities Authority and Suez, the company that runs the city's water system, are in talks over how to handle the thousands of dollars in Suez donations to Mayor Steve Fulop's campaign that are at the center of pay-to-play allegations.

Suez and its political action committee have given a combined $10,800 to the mayor's re-election campaign, plus $1,000 to the Jersey City Democratic Committee, campaign records show. The contributions exceed limits set by the city's pay-to-play ban.

"On the pay-to-play issue we are discussing with (Suez's) counsel ... to understand exactly what happened," MUA attorney Frank Borin told the agency's commissioners at their meeting last night. "We don't have any conclusions yet."

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... o_donations_at_cente.html

Pay-to-play claims fly over city vendor's campaign cash to Fulop

JERSEY CITY -- Donations to Mayor Steve Fulop's re-election bid by the company that manages the city's water system are raising new accusations of violations of the city's pay-to-play law.

Suez and its political action committee gave Fulop's re-election bid at least $10,800 in the last four years, plus another $1,000 to the Fulop-controlled Jersey City Democratic Committee, campaign reports show. Those amounts exceed contribution limits placed on some city vendors by the city's pay-to-play law.

Suez is at the tail end of a 10-year contract with the autonomous city Municipal Utilities Authority to run the water system. The company is in the middle of negotiations for a new contract with the MUA, whose bylaws say it will adhere to the city's pay-to-play restrictions. The MUA director is Jeremy Farrell, who is also the city's corporation counsel

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... er_city_vendors_cash.html