Questions persist from '06 Manalapan election
Former GOP candidate files campaign report; Dem leader still irked
BY KATHY BARATTA Staff Writer

MANALAPAN - Campaign reports from the 2006 general election in Manalapan that were filed with a state agency last month may have raised more questions than they answered.

Nikole Pezzullo, an attorney with a private practice in Freehold Township, made an unsuccessful bid in 2006 for a seat on the Manalapan Township Committee running as the Republican candidate.

She lost the race for a three-year term on Manalapan's governing body to Democrat Richard Klauber.

Pezzullo's campaign was tinged with controversy from the start when Manalapan Democratic Party Chairman Gerard Ward challenged her candidacy based on her change of voter residence from her previous home in Belmar to her present home in Manalapan. Pezzullo prevailed in court and was permitted to pursue her bid for election.

Candidates who run for office in New Jersey are required to file reports with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission during and after their campaign in order to apprise the commission of the officers of their campaign, to identify the sources of campaign contributions (over $300) and to explain how the campaign spent money.

Almost two years after running for office, Pezzullo filed paperwork with ELEC on June 5, 2008 which indicates that about $18,000 was spent on her 2006 election campaign. The paperwork was due at ELEC by the first week of December 2006, but was filed almost two years after it was due.

During the 2006 general election campaign, Pezzullo's campaign manager and treasurer were identified in published reports as Manalapan residents Martin Mabe and Debra Guerreri.

The forms Pezzullo filed with ELEC listed persons other than Mabe and Guerreri as her campaign manager and treasurer. The reports list two individuals from Hopewell, Drewe Schoenholtz and Diane Schoenholtz as her campaign manager and treasurer.

A message left for the Schoenholtzes by the News Transcript at the telephone number given for the two on Pezzullo's ELEC reports did not result in a return call.

Mabe and Manalapan Republican Party Chairman Stephen McEnery both told the News Transcript this week that they have no idea who Drewe Schoenholtz and Diane Schoenholtz are. They said that as far as they knew the Schoenholtzes had not been associated in any way with Pezzullo's campaign for Manalapan Township Committee.

Mabe said he could not account for any information contained in Pezzullo's recently filed ELEC reports or who may have been involved in preparing them because he has not spoken with Pezzullo since Election Day 2006.

He said that in fact, he had been the manager of Pezzullo's campaign "in name only" and "had only allowed my name to be used because Steve (McEnery) needed somebody's name to use as campaign manager and he asked me to let him use mine."

"I was her campaign manager for a short time and really only because they needed to put somebody's name down. For all intents and purposes, Steve McEnery was her campaign manager."

McEnery not only vigorously disputed that assertion, but said that provocative, pre-campaign signs that had been placed around Manalapan - signs that had no attribution on them and contained only the phrase "Nikki's coming" - were Mabe's work from start to finish.

According to McEnery, he became aware of the unofficial signs once Mabe had conceived of and constructed them and not before.

"Those signs were not 'Committee to Elect' (Nikole Pezzullo) signs, they were Marty Mabe signs. He thought of them and had them made and distributed, so I don't see how he can say he wasn't that involved in her campaign when he ran things right from the start."

When initially contacted for comment on this article, Pezzullo was e-mailed some questions by the News Transcript and informed that Ward intended to challenge her ELEC reports as filed.

She e-mailed a response which did not address the questions posed by the News Transcript and instead addressed her reaction to Ward's ELEC complaint and Mabe's position in her campaign.

Pezzullo wrote in her e-mail that, "Mr. Mabe was not available during most of my campaign. He, like everyone else involved, was only interested when it was convenient for him to be or when he had something to gain.

I have not been advised by ELEC of any complaints. Until I am, I have no reason to believe there is a problem. Gerry Ward has a history of filing frivolous complaints that go nowhere and should go nowhere, all the while being the worst offender in failing to timely report contributions and expenses of the campaigns he is running. Almost all of his complaints are justifiably ignored.

"The fact my campaign started with one treasurer and finished with another is hardly an issue. My original treasurer resigned for personal reasons that, frankly, are nobody's business. I was advised by Steve McEnery, my municipal chair, that a new treasurer would be appointed and the campaign would be taken care of. When I found out it wasn't, I found someone to finalize and file any and all filings that were outstanding.

"Every single penny that came into my account was accounted for. Every penny of every expense was accounted for. If there were campaign expenses that Steve McEnery took care of out of another account, he had the responsibility to notify the treasurer, or at least me, of the amount and date of the expense so they could be timely included in the filed reports.

"If there is anything to investigate about campaign financing, it is not a campaign from two years ago that has reported every penny of income and expense as mine has, but the actions of the two municipal chairmen in Manalapan wheeling money all over without timely reporting it, so the voters never know how the campaigns are being financed.

"Why not question this year? In this year's primary, the Republican chair managed to send out two professionally printed pieces of literature with full postage, identified as coming from his own PAC (political action committee), but I do not see it reported on any ELEC filing.

"I question why Mr. Ward is questioning my campaign. Both municipal chairs need to spend more time uniting the parties within our town to increase the quality of life for the residents who live here. Mr. Ward should focus on the present and the future instead of reliving a campaign from two years ago," Pezzullo said.

After informing the News Transcript that she was going to make herself available to discuss developing aspects of this article, Pezzullo did not do so.

When asked to comment on Pezzullo's assertions as to his motivation for filing the complaint, Ward said, "The bottom line is Ms. Pezzullo broke state laws when she failed to file the proper forms. Even now that she has filed two years later, she still neglects to divulge where she received her money. Why is this? Is there a reason Ms. Pezzullo has failed to divulge this information? This election was held in November 2006. It is now July 2008. She just filed the reports that should have been filed 29 days after the election in 2006."

McEnery said that after a "falling out," during the campaign, Guerreri resigned her position as treasurer for the Pezzullo campaign.

McEnery said he then found someone during the campaign who was willing to finish the campaign as treasurer, but he said Pezzullo never followed up on the matter with that individual. He also said she ignored his pleas to her in the year following the campaign to file the required ELEC reports. McEnery provided the News Transcript with copies of e-mails he had sent to Pezzullo in his attempt to get her to file ELEC reports.

When asked what, if any, action would be taken given the fact the reports were filed two years late and also reflected campaign officials' names which were of persons other than those who were purported during the campaign to have actually held the positions, ELEC Deputy Director Jeff Brindle asked the News Transcript to forward to the commission an article the newspaper published one year ago that identified Mabe and Guerreri as the officers of Pezzullo's campaign.

The article discussed the complaint Ward had filed with ELEC about Pezzullo's missing reports. Ward said he filed the complaint in 2007 because Pezzullo had not as yet filed the required ELEC reports.

Brindle said he will present the News Transcript article and Pezzullo's 2006 campaign reports filed June 5, 2008 to the ELEC commissioners when they meet on July 15 in order for them to review the matter and decide whether they should initiate an investigation of any possible discrepancies. He said the penalties for any violations of the campaign statutes could include a $6,000 fine.

"The commission will have to look into it and see what the facts are," Brindle said.

Brindle said if an investigation is launched he will not be able to confirm or deny that investigation. He said he will only be permitted to make a comment when and if any official action or sanctions are imposed in the matter.

Ward said he has reviewed Pezzullo's ELEC filing and will be challenging their veracity with the commissioner.

Ward said just the fact that the reports were filed two years late should warrant some action by ELEC along with the fact that the filed reports do not reflect an expenditure to anyone for the cost or contribution of a plane that flew a "Vote for Nikki" banner over Manalapan on Election Day.

According to McEnery, the aerial banner was provided by a friend of Pezzullo's from the shore area who flies banners for a living. McEnery said he told her at that time that the banner would have to be included in her ELEC filings as an in-kind contribution, however, the reports Pezzullo filed do not reflect any such contribution or expenditure.

"If what she's filed is supposed to be it, I have a problem because if this is all she's filing it's not all there. I filed a complaint with ELEC and now it is ELEC's job to inform me of their findings," Ward said.

A review of the ELEC report filed by Pezzullo shows $2,982.76 being paid to Mabe on Oct. 20, 2006 for "signs" and $1,707.48 being paid to Mabe on Jan. 2, 2007 for "reimbursement of campaign expenses."

The form also lists other vendors who were paid for signs, but McEnery said they were "Committee to Elect" signs.