2nd District Republicans have nearly 10 times the cash as their rivals

Posted: Tuesday, October 6, 2009

If money equals votes, then Republicans should easily hold onto their 2nd Legislative District Assembly seats in November.

State-required campaign finance reports show incumbents John Amodeo and Vince Polistina with an overwhelming cash advantage over their Democratic challengers, Reginald Floyd and Jimmy Martinez.

The 29-day pre-election reports filed with the state Election Law Enforcement Commission, or ELEC, on Monday show Polistina and Amodeo with more than $185,000 left in their three campaign accounts. Floyd and Martinez have almost $13,000 in their two accounts.

Overall, Polistina and Amodeo have raised $238,853.37, significantly more than the $26,954.73 raised by their Democratic opposition.

The financial situation is a turnaround from what Polistina and Amodeo encountered when they first ran for the Assembly in 2007: The Democratic ticket of state Senate candidate James Whelan and Assembly candidates Blondell Spellman and Joe Wilkins raised $2.25 million, more than double the $1.03 million raised by Polistina, Amodeo and state Senate running mate James "Sonny" McCullough.

ELEC requires candidates to file campaign finance reports 29 and 11 days before, and 20 days after, an election. The reports will be available on ELEC's Web site - www.elec.state.nj.us - later this week.

Amodeo, Polistina, Martinez and Floyd are running for two, two-year seats. The 2nd Legislative District includes the Atlantic County municipalities of Egg Harbor, Galloway, Hamilton, Weymouth and Mullica townships, along with Brigantine, Atlantic City, Ventnor, Margate, Longport, Corbin City, Estell Manor, Linwood, Northfield, Pleasantville, Absecon, Port Republic and Egg Harbor City.

The ELEC reports show all candidates are getting help from their political parties.

For instance, Assembly Republican Victory '09 has spent almost $21,000 in in-kind contributions on behalf of Polistina and Amodeo. The money has paid for things such as administrative and payroll costs and opposition research.

Amodeo and Polistina also received about $11,000 in contributions from the Election Fund of Alex DeCroce. DeCroce is the Assembly minority leader.

Amodeo, a crane operator, is also getting support from his friends in organized labor. Some of the donations he's received include $3,300 from the Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 9 and $2,400 from the New Jersey Council of Carpenters.

Polistina has received $3,000 from the New Jersey Education Association.

As for Floyd and Martinez, the ELEC reports show they have Assembly leadership to thank for most of their money.

Of the almost $27,000 Floyd and Martinez have raised, $10,000 came from Friends of Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts.

The next filing deadline is Oct. 23.