Tracing Gray Money in NJ Politics: County-by-County Insights
Wikipedia offers a concise definition of a Political Action Committee (PAC): “In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation.” One good definition of gray money comes from the Brennan Center for Justice: What causes...
Concerns About the 11/18/2024 Town Council Meeting and the “New Civility”
A resolution authorizing the township to seek bids for improvements to Deerpath, previously pulled from the last Town Council meeting, has returned to the agenda for this weeks council meeting. This development comes on the heels of the controversial approval of a $450,000 resolution connected to the Westside Drainage Project. Before Ms. Akiri addressed the council at the last meeting,...
Follow Up to Controversial Berkeley Heights $450,000 Old Farm/Orchard/Mercier Resolution
The township has uploaded the video of the November 12, 2024, meeting to its website. The video provides further discussion on the $450,000 Old Orchard/Mercier resolution, a topic covered two weeks ago. This resolution, which includes repaving the neighborhood and adding curbing, has sparked frustration among some residents. Critics point out that a $100,000 engineering study and a letter from...
The Story of Politics, Money and Berkeley Heights in Twelve Images
This week, we shared snapshots on our socials highlighting the campaign contributions made by vendors alongside the payments they received from the town for their services. We encourage residents to start paying closer attention to this critical information, especially in light of New Jersey’s recent rollback of campaign finance reforms, which takes transparency back to the dark ages. These special interests...
Today’s Berkeley Heights Special Town Council Meeting Raises More Questions
A resolution concerning Deerpath Lane, which appears similar to a contentious $450,000 proposal voted through at the last meeting, appears on the agenda for today’s unusually scheduled Town Council meeting at 5:45 p.m. This timing, combined with lingering concerns from the prior meeting, has left residents and stakeholders asking even more questions. The previous meeting highlighted significant unresolved issues surrounding...
How Berkeley Heights Elementary Schools Fared on the US News & World Report 2025 Rankings
Spoiler Alert: Not Great It’s important to note that these rankings are based on 2021-2022 proficiency scores—a period marked by upheaval due to the previous Board of Education (BOE) and administration’s decision to push through a chaotic reconfiguration of our schools. While US News & World Report relies on year-old data, we have already reported updated proficiency scores for 2022-2023,...
Columbia Middle School Pulls Ahead in U.S. News & World Report Rankings
And there’s even better news for Berkeley Heights on the horizon. Columbia Middle School has shown resilience amid the proficiency declines reported two years ago. While the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings reflect data from the 2021-2022 school year, our internal proficiency reporting is more current—and it tells a promising story. Let’s start with the US News and...
Discussion on $450,000 Resolution Raises Oversight and Project Alignment Concerns
11/12/2024 Berkeley Heights Town Council Meeting In the clip below, Mr. Donnelly highlighted that the project under Resolution #2 approved by the Council last night, would involve repaving an area resurfaced only a year ago without addressing the primary drainage issues this project was originally intended to resolve. Additionally, it appears – in this discussion – that other council members...
Jeanne Kingsley’s Transparency Record in Berkeley Heights, NJ
A recent campaign mailer casts Jeanne Kingsley, candidate for Union County Commissioner, as a champion of transparency and fiscal responsibility. However, her track record tells a different story. In 2017, as a member of the Berkeley Heights Council majority, Kingsley blocked residents from voting on a multimillion-dollar municipal project. By 2022, problems with the completed building forced the township into...
Can a Berkeley Heights BOE Seat be Purchased?
How Much is George Devanney Really Spending on This Campaign? While we don’t yet have a full breakdown of Board of Education candidate George Devanney’s campaign finances, what we do know is enough to raise concerns. First, let’s examine his current list of donors. Nearly half of them come from outside Berkeley Heights, including contributions from prominent political figures: EFO...
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