A request for an investigation and imposition of penalties has been filed with New Jersey’s Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) alleging a series of prohibited campaign contributions by principals of the accounting firm Lerch, Vinci & Higgins (LV&H) to the 2017 primary re-election committee of Plainfield Mayor Adrian O. Mapp.

LV&H is the long-time auditor and financial consultant for the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority (PMUA), the city agency tasked with management of the city’s sewer and solid-waste services.

The request, submitted to ELEC on February 26, 2018, notes that PMUA management withdrew, for the moment, a February resolution awarding a new contract to LV&H in order to review the State’s Pay-to-Play Law which prohibits it from entering into a “Non-Fair and Open” contract with a business entity that has made reportable campaign contributions to certain local candidate committees in the one-year period preceding the award of the contract, or during the term of the contract.

The request also points out that LV&H’s annual financial disclosure (Form BE) with the State  declares that its PMUA contract is “Fair and Open”.  This claim is false, a fact made apparent by the inclusion of portions its contract, the contract award resolution, and the ‘Company Proposal’, all of which reference the contribution restrictions associated with a “Non-Fair and Open” contract.  Such contributions constitute a breach of contract.

In considering the launch of an official investigation and the imposition of penalties, the request to ELEC highlights that LV&H’s long tenure with PMUA is marked by fraudulent and misleading statements in the notes to its audited financial statements, as well as negligence associated with the illegal compensation of PMUA Board Commissioners well-beyond the statutory limitations established in accordance with the State’s ‘Municipal and County Utilities Authorities Law’ by Plainfield City Council ordinance.

If ELEC ultimately determines that campaign contribution violations occurred, the Mapp candidate committee could be liable for significant monetary penalties for each violation.  LV&H, with over $8.9 million in contracts with New Jersey public entities in 2016, could be fined an amount equal to the value of its PMUA contract, and disbarred by the State Treasurer from receiving any public contracts in New Jersey for a period of up to five years.