Willingboro mayor cited for campaign finance violations

Willingboro's mayor has been cited for campaign finance violations alleging that he and a former running mate missed deadlines for reporting the receipt of about $32,000 in campaign contributions.

The state Election Law Enforcement Commission this month released a report that Mayor Nathaniel "Nat" Anderson and former Councilman Ken Gordon, both Democrats, violated campaign reporting rules when they ran for town council in 2009 but failed to report many of their joint financial transactions until January 2011, more than a year after they took office.

The two men face a yet to be determined fine for breaking rules that are designed to shed light on a candidate's financial backers so that the public can see whether their contributions can be linked to political influence. The two men have the opportunity to request a hearing on the violations and bring documentation missing from the reports. No hearing has been requested or scheduled yet.

Anderson, who is serving his second term on council after being reelected in 2013, declined comment. He referred questions to Liebling Malamut LLC, saying the firm is his attorney. The Cherry Hill law firm also has served as Willingboro's planning board attorney. Adam Malamut did not return multiple calls for comment.

Gordon, who lost his council seat in 2013 due to his absenteeism, also declined comment on the ELEC report, saying he had been traveling on business and did not have the opportunity to review it. ELEC had also cited his ex-wife, Ceeja Gordon, who had served as the treasurer of Anderson and Gordon's joint campaign fund, for the reporting deficiencies. She could not be reached for comment.

ELEC said each violation could bring a potential $6,800 fine and there are more than 20 citations. The maximum fine is seldom levied because the penalties are often negotiated.

Many of the contributions that Anderson and Gordon received from major donors in May and June of 2009 were omitted in several reports that were filed on time, ELEC said. Among those was a $2,000 donation from the New Frontier PAC, a PAC which was investigated by the FBI in a corruption probe involving former Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano 3d. In July 2009, Cammarano was arrested on corruption charges, following the FBI probe. The New Frontier PAC was controlled by Rick Perr, former chairman of the Burlington County Democratic Committee. Perr resigned in September 2009.

ELEC also said Anderson and Gordon were late in reporting $40,000 in campaign expenditures. Among the largest was a $18,700 bill from Kennedy Communications, a Washington D.C. firm that creates political literature for Democrats across the country.

The two men also improperly reported that they received about $6,000 from two prominent law firms, ELEC said. It is a violation to name LLCs as contributors, ELEC said, noting individuals must be named.

"You want people to know who is giving the candidate money, not the intermediary," said Joe Donohue, deputy director of ELEC. "The whole point of the law is disclosure."

The candidates reported they received $5,000 from the law firm of DeCotiis, FitzPatrick, Cole & Wisler, based in Teaneck and $1,000 from Florio, Perucci, Steinhardt & Fader, based in Phillipsburg.

The ELEC report is just the latest issue Anderson has had to address over his campaign finances. At council meetings during the last two months, several council members and residents questioned whether it was proper for him to contribute about $2,000 to Willingboro's Jazz and Musical Festival Weekend last August using a check from the election fund that he had created when he ran for reelection.

ELEC allows a candidate to keep an election fund open after he wins a seat, but he still would be required to provide an accounting of any moneys he is receiving and spending. ELEC records show Nat Anderson's election account has not filed any reports since 2013 and at that time there was about $200 left in the account. There are no reports reflecting the $2,000 that he donated last year to the Jazz Festival or where that money might have come from. These reports would have been due last year.

The township also received donations for the Jazz Festival from Citizens for a Better Community, a Willingboro-based PAC. It donated about $3,000 and also did not file any reports with ELEC showing the expenditure and where the money came from. The chairman, Dennis Reiter, did not return calls for comment. His home address, listed on the PAC's registration papers on file with ELEC, is the same as the address listed for the Willingboro Regular Democrats PAC, which donated $1,750 to Anderson's campaign fund in 2013.

Councilman Chris Walker, who was Anderson's running mate in 2013, said that he had kept a separate campaign account because of differences he has had with Anderson. Walker and Councilman Martin Nock have raised concerns about Anderson's role in the Jazz Festival, saying Anderson's company, Nothing But Green Living LLC, was promoted as a major sponsor of the event even though the company did not pay any money to the township for the sponsorship and advertising.

The town paid the bulk of the $146,000 cost of the event, which attracted about 20,000 people.

Anderson's company, which markets and distributes environmentally-friendly floor cleaning products, had banners prominently displayed around several staging areas and was featured on the event's website as being a sponsor.

Anderson said in an interview last week that his company paid for the sponsorship indirectly. Instead of paying the township recreation department, which organized the event, he said that he paid $2,100 to a vendor who did the lighting and decorations for the event. "The sponsorship cost was $2,500, and I paid $2,100 to the vendor of my choice," he said. By factoring in the $2,000 that he also paid to the town from his campaign fund, Anderson said he "more than covered" the cost of the joint sponsorship for his company and for him, as a public official. The banners mentioned both Anderson's name and public title as well as his company's name, he said.

Anderson said this arrangement was approved by the recreation department. The advantage, he said, was that he could select the vendor, whose work had impressed him, and the town did not have to go out to bid for that work.

Walker said he disagreed that this arrangement was proper. "If you want to support a recreation department, you can write a check to the recreation department, but not in lieu of your personal company writing the check," he said. After he learned about the Jazz Festival's various sponsorships and donations in December, he said he asked the town attorney to look into the matter and was expecting a report.

jhefler@phillynews.com

856-779-3224 @JanHefler

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