Jersey City mayor Steve Fulop raises money for Massachusetts candidate for governor: The Auditor

By The Auditor | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
September 14, 2014 at 9:45 AM

TRENTON ? Much has been made about Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop traveling around the state, presumably to lay the groundwork for a future gubernatorial run.

But The Auditor noticed that Fulop, a Democrat, has begun reaching out-of-state, too.

Massachusetts campaign finance reports show that Fulop and several other New Jerseyans ? most of whom have ties to the mayor ? over the last couple weeks gave donations to Massachusetts Democratic gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley, who eked out a primary victory on Tuesday.

Each donor gave $500.

That included Fulop and the Jersey City Democratic Committee; Assemblyman Raj Mukherji, a Jersey City native and former deputy mayor; Andrew Hodulik, whose accounting firm does work for Jersey City agencies; and Gary Taffet, the former chief of staff to Gov. Jim McGreevey who is doing insurance work through Jersey City?s broker.

The Auditor heard that Fulop personally called New Jersey contacts to ask them to contribute.

So what drew Fulop to Coakley?

One of Coakley?s supporters is Dan Fireman, the son and business partner of Paul Fireman, the Boston billionaire who owns a golf course in Jersey City and wants to build a 95-story casino and entertainment complex there.

Dan Fireman has an ActBlue page that asks donors to contribute $500, and was co-chair of a fundraiser to celebrate Coakley?s 61st birthday in July.

In a statement, Fulop adviser Bob Sommer said the mayor is working with Dan Fireman to support Coakley, and said Fulop is donating money for the Wisconsin Democratic candidate for governor as well.

"We are excited about the hundreds of jobs the Fireman family have created in Jersey City, the more than one million dollars they have raised for our community's non profit organizations and the 25,000 jobs to be created with their casino. Jersey City is blessed to have such a great family involved," Sommer said. "Even better is we are working together to support Democratic candidates outside New Jersey, like Martha Coakley in Massachusetts and Mary Burke, the Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate to defeat Scott Walker."

Bill Pascrell III ? a Trenton lobbyist who?s representing Paul Fireman in his casino quest ? gave $500 to Coakley in April. And in September, so did Ed Farmer, the former chief of staff to Pascrell?s dad, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-8th Dist.).

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