PARSIPPANY — If five words could sum up the 2015 Republican Primary race, those words would be “Democratic Super PAC invades Parsippany.” Last month it was revealed that NJ’s Future First (NJFF), a Super PAC with ties to Essex County Democrats and President Obama was hiring campaign workers to support Councilman dePierro’s Council slate and was mailing flyers in support of him and his running mates, Vincent Ferrara and Loretta Gragnani. dePierro has steadfastly denied all claims.
According to state and federal laws, PACs may support issues, but may not have any contact with individual candidates. When first made aware of the NJFF’s presence in Parsippany, dePierro told Politickrnj that “this must have been arranged by someone who sees what they’re [Councilman Paul Carifi] doing on council and doesn’t like their conduct at council meetings. Parsippany is the largest town [in Morris County] and all these years I never felt completely in control [of what happens in campaigns].”
“I don’t know who the PAC is,” he added. “I haven’t even seen the mailer. I understand they misspelled my name. I haven’t seen this.”
In an article published today and written by the Star Ledger and re-posted by Parsippany Focus, Timothy White, the Super PAC’s spokesman told the Star Ledger that NJFF represents “the collaboration of several New Jersey business professionals who were concerned that the partisan gridlock stymieing Washington, D.C. was being replicated on all levels of government. A network was created with intent on providing a new voice….NJFF has identified Parsippany Councilman Carifi as being a particularly divisive individual who is more concerned with political ambitions and personal vendettas than providing good government to the township.”
Parsippany Focus has learned that Timothy White is no stranger to Parsippany. White, a vice president at the Beckerman public relations firm, has previously been retained by Steve Kalafer, one of the investors of the controversial Whole Foods development plan at “Waterview”, a project, Carifi and his team oppose, and one that dePierro and his slate support.
In 2013, White, working for Waterview developer partner Kalfer, penned “letters to the editor” on behalf of various individuals in support of the project and issued press releases for the building trades unions, of which NJFF director Robert Dombroski is a member of.
In one email, White wrote Kalfer and his personal assistant:
Bob Grieb from the Pipefitters was nice enough to lend his name to the quote in the press release, I thought we can follow up with a letter to the editor from Bob that we can publish in the Daily Record, The PATCH and The Star-Ledger.
Attached is a draft of a letter from Bob. Do you think we can get him to approve this letter? If so I would just need his phone number and e-mail address for verification purposes and I will submit on his behalf.
Thanks again,
TW
In another email, Mr. Kalafer’s assistant asked another Waterview development partner, Joseph M Forgione, to forward a Timothy White authored press release to Parsippany Township attorney John Inglesino.
A Photo Tells a Thousand Words
Parsippany Focus recently compared three photos being used by the dePierro, Ferrara, and Gragnani team and the Super Pac. All three photos are the same except for some cropping. The first photo was taken from dePierro’s official Facebook page. There is a watermark showing the photographer who took the official portrait.
The second photograph shows an official dePierro campaign flyer. The same official photograph is used, but it was cropped to fit within the flyer.
The third photograph is a flyer produced by the Super PAC NJ’s Future First. Again, the official diPierro photograph is used, however without any cropping (the misspelling of dePierro’s name has since been corrected on more recent flyers) this time.
Jeffrey Brindle, the executive director of Nj’s Election Law Enforcement Commission recently blasted the Super PAC in an Op-ed for PolitickrNJ.
Parsippany Focus has asked Councilman dePierro and Timothy White, spokesman for NJ’s Future First for comment and will update if and when any are provided.
Update: Councilman diPierro told Parsippany Focus that “No one in my campaign had any contact with that PAC nor did we share any information or photos with that PAC! If you check our facebook site, our web site or the Township website, all of our photos and information are readily available to anyone.”
editor’s note: The photo NJFF used is indeed the same photograph used on Mr. diPierro’s Facebook page. However, Parsippany Focus stands by it’s assertion that it would be impossible to use the Facebook photo on the NJFF’s flyer. NJFF could only have used an original source photo, paid for by dePierro’s team and unpublished anywhere without the photographer’s watermark.
