Jersey City officials working to award $120,000 no-bid contract to company that donated to Mayor Healy and two City Council members

Tuesday, February 08, 2011
By TERRENCE T. McDONALD
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Jersey City officials are seeking to award a no-bid contract of up to $120,000 to a city company whose owner has contributed to the campaigns of Mayor Jerramiah Healy and several City Council members.

The company, Certified Products Co. Inc., located on Kearney Avenue, is the city's choice to receive a 12-month contract to provide parts and repairs to city vehicles. The city plans to award the contract through a no-bid process, saying the state has already vetted the company.

Certified Products contributed $1,500 in December to Healy's 2013 re-election campaign, according to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.

Certified Products also donated $1,000 to Councilman Peter Donnelly last year, and $450 to Councilwoman Viola Richardson's civic outreach association, according to a campaign contribution disclosure form filled out by Certified Products.

The contract is scheduled for approval at tomorrow's council meeting.

Councilman Steven Fulop said awarding a contract to Certified Products is a violation of the city's pay-to-play ordinance, which forbids awarding certain contracts to companies that pony up more than $300 in campaign cash.

The city is permitted to award the contract to Certified Products without putting the contract out to bid because state statute allows municipalities to award no-bid contracts to companies that have state contracts to perform similar services, according to a Jan. 26 memo to the council from City Assistant Corporation Counsel Ray Reddington.

There are only two companies in the area that have state contracts to repair heavy-duty vehicles, and the city wants the council to approve contracts for both, said city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill.

The second company, Air Brake and Equipment of Hillside, did not contribute more than $300 to any Jersey City campaigns in the last 12 months, according to its disclosure report.

In addition to the 2010 contributions, Joseph Ferretti, a Certified Products vice president, also donated $2,000 to the mayor's slate of council candidates in 2009, which included six current council members, and $2,000 to Healy's 2009 campaign, according to NJ-ELEC.

Ferretti told The Jersey Journal those contributions were not personal donations, but came from Certified Products

Gaughan does not use or believe in email. He once was quoted saying email is for yuppies. Gaughan is so out of touch.

Quote:

gaughan is my councilman and he of course missed the vote last week. I emailed to see how he WOULD have voted to give him the benefit of the doubt. 5 days later no response. i guess i should have included a money order w/ my damn email.
this is the 2nd email i've sent his office that has been ignored.

Your kidding right? Bill Gaughan doesn't no who the company is? So he just cashes contribution checks without looking to see who there from and why? Typical JC answer........ We need all new council members except Fulop who care about JC and not there own pocket.....

No "law was broken" technically, but the law itself is BROKEN.

Remember the controversy involved with the bidding process for Hamilton park? Supposedly the developers of Hamilton square were awarded the job. Then complaints surfaced that the developer had knowledge of the other bids (inside info.) and used it to submit the lowest bid. As a result the bidding was done all over again and the job went to another contractor.

Does anyone have a copy of the article they could post?

At the next council meeting, can someone ask about this so that Steve can say everyone on this council received contributions except for me. That was awesome last time. And this time, some members received specific donations.

I would just like to take this opportunity to let members of the city council know that my favorable written opinion of them can be bought. If I receive a monetary ?contribution? from one of them. After I receive a check in the mail, I will post one positive comment concerning the specific councilperson here on JC list per day, and I will write in to refute any negative comments made of such councilperson with high minded conviction. The sort of high mended conviction that only money can buy!
As a side note, Nadia Lopez would have to pay quite a bit more for this service as she is a special case.

Jersey City contract goes to firm that gave to council members' campaigns, but no law broken

By Melissa Hayes/The Jersey Journal
March 02, 2010, 7:00AM

Winning bidder for a Jersey City municipal contract donated to the campaigns of council members. Officials say pay-to-play law not violated.

A company that donated to the campaigns of Jersey City City Council members has been awarded a contract that will bring it up to $100,000.

But, say city officials, the city's pay-to-play law has not been violated because the company -- Certified Products Co. of Jersey City -- was the low bidder on a job to provide automotive fluids and lubricants for the city's Department of Public Works.

The company won the contract fair and square and it was awarded appropriately to the lowest responsible bidder, city spokesman Jennifer Morrill said yesterday.

According to the resolution passed Wednesday, Certified Products was the lowest of three bidders, with a $165,517.50 bid. The resolution cites "budgetary constraints" as the reason for capping the open-ended contract at $100,000.

Councilman Steven Fulop, who sponsored the pay-to-play legislation that was adopted Sept. 23, 2008, thought the awarding of the contract might have violated the law once he learned of the donations.

But the law only applies to professional services contracts, such as agreements entered into with attorneys and architects.

"Whether bid or not bid, the intention is that if you are a city vendor you should not be contributing, as it compromises judgment," Fulop argued.

Certified Products Co. donated $500 on June 1 to Councilman Michael Sottolano and Councilwoman Viola Richardson's joint campaign fund in last year's runoff election.

And on March 2, 2009, the company donated $1,000 to Team Jersey City, which in addition to Sottolano and Richardson includes Council President Peter Brennan, Councilwomen Willie Flood and Nidia Lopez, and Councilmen Bill Gaughan and Mariano Vega.

Gaughan's individual campaign received a $450 donation on Feb. 26, 2009, and Richardson's individual campaign got $1,000 on Oct. 10, 2008.

The company also donated $1,500 to the Hudson County Democratic Organization on Sept. 23, 2008.

"I have no idea who this company is," Gaughan said last night. "If there was an award and the lowest responsible bidder was granted an award, then I voted because they were the lowest responsible bidder."

Heather Taylor, communications director for Citizen's Campaign, which drafted the pay-to-play law adopted by many municipalities in the state, said a newer model includes a clause related to contracts that are bid but that it wouldn't have stopped Certified Products Co. from being awarded a contract.

The ordinance only prohibits a vendor from making political contributions once they are awarded a contract. Once the contract is up, the company could go back to contributing.