DEMAIO/DEVLIN/MENTO RELEASE CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORTS EARLY AND ONLINE FOR GREATER PUBLIC ACCESS

Egg Harbor Township – Atlantic County Freeholder candidates Angelo DeMaio, John Devlin, and Sam Mento took the unprecedented move today of releasing their state required campaign finance reports to the public by posting them on their website,www.TaxRelief09.com and challenged their opponents to do the same.

“As part of our platform for saving taxpayer money, we’ve been advocating greater transparency in the budget process to help identify and draw attention to areas where cost savings might be achieved,” said Freeholder At Large candidate Angelo DeMaio, a firefighter and union president. “Our team believes that when it comes to our own campaign finance reports, we should be equally open and forthright with the public.”

“We are running an open and honest campaign about Atlantic County’s high county property taxes and unaffordable spending practices,” said Second District Freeholder candidate John Devlin, a police officer and former Marine. “The public should know we have no hidden agenda and simply want all Atlantic County residents to continue to afford to live here.” 

“As you can see from our campaign reports on TaxRelief09.com, we are not entrenched politicians raking in campaign contributions from wide-ranging special interests,” said Fifth District Freeholder candidate, Sam Mento, who is a blueberry farmer and union carpenter. “We really are three average guys who don’t want our native Atlantic County to become a virtual ghost-town, abandoned by overtaxed and unemployed residents.”

Campaign finance reports are required by the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) for every candidate for public office. Reports must include a full listing of campaign contributions and expenditures. Reports are due in ELEC’s Trenton office by 5:00PM on the following dates for 2009: October 5^th (29 days prior to election), October 23^rd (11 days prior) and November 23^rd (20 days following an election). 

DeMaio, Devlin and Mento note that this is a good government measure that should be followed by all candidates. They plan to post all of their upcoming reports online, as soon as they are filed. While ELEC does post all reports online at www.elec.state.nj.us, it is neither immediate, nor consistently posted within the same timeframes. It can also be difficult to find candidate reports among the listing of thousands of candidates statewide. Any member of the public wishing to inspect reports prior to ELEC posting them online must travel to Trenton and request copies in the ELEC office.

To view candidate reports for Angelo DeMaio, John Devlin, and Sam Mento, go to www.TaxRelief09.com.   For more information about DeMaio, Devlin, and Mento’s open and honest campaign for county tax relief, contact (609) 272-1119. 

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