HOBOKEN – Fourth Ward Councilman Michael Lenz and challenger Tim Occhipinti continued their public battle on Wednesday over clean campaigns.
A day after Lenz asked Occhipinti once again to sign a “clean election pledge”, Occhipinti shot back in a press release and said Lenz does not even follow the pledge.
In the clean election pledge put forth by Lenz, it asks for an end to “street money” and to not pay election day workers cash. Instead, it says “all payments to election day workers by my campaign will be by check.”
“According to his ELEC filings, Michael Lenz paid out thousands of dollars in ‘street money’ during his unsuccessful 2001 city council campaign,” according to an Occhipinti press release.
In an ELEC filing filed on April 6, 2010, the report shows Lenz paid $1,600 to 33 residents in “street money,” mostly on the 300 blocks of Harrison and Jackson streets. However, they were paid by check, according to the ELEC filing.
In a Wednesday release, Lenz defended his use of street money and said, “The pledge calls for ‘street money’ and makes it clear that I am talking about cash payments.”
Lenz’s pledge also calls for promoting transparency, and that includes making every effort to meet established deadlines.
“In the eight years between his unsuccessful city council campaign in 2001 and his ELEC filing in 2010, Michael Lenz missed 30 ELEC report filing deadlines,” Occhipinti said in a release. “When Michael Lenz talks about ethics, it seems he’s saying: do as I say, not as I do.”
Lenz said he remembers submitting all of his ELEC reports in 2001, but was surprised when he saw online that his final report was missing after he was appointed to the City Council.
“I checked with ELEC and was told to re-submit it along with a note explaining it had been previously filed, which I did,” Lenz said in a release. “ELEC accepted my submission, put it on the web, and has taken no action to indicate I have done anything wrong.”
The final filing for Lenz’s 2001 council run was filed on April 6, 2010.
Occhipinti has called on Lenz to “apologize to the people of the 4th Ward for even proposing a cynical pledge,” according to a release.
Lenz said Occhipinti is wrong on the charges.
The talk continues. Election day is Nov. 2.– Ray Smith