PRESS RELEASE

People of Color in NJ Donate Fractions Compared to Whites in Elections

Civil Rights, Consumer Activists Release "Color of Money" Study that Shows Enormous Disparity Between Race and Contribution Levels; Call on Legislators to Enact Public Financing

March 14, 2002

Trenton, NJ – Campaign contributors in the 20 highest giving zip code areas contributed 18 times more money to state legislative and Gubernatorial candidates last year than African Americans and Latinos in the 20 areas with highest minority populations, according to a study released today by NJ Citizen Action, the NAACP-National Voter Fund New Jersey office and other activist organizations. (Here is the full report.) The report analyzed demographic and population data in both sets of areas and found that people of color are left out of a major part of the political process, campaign financing.

"The Color of Money in New Jersey is white," said Roxanne Vivanco, NJCA Organizer. "This study mirrors national trends, and finds that people of color in urban communities are disadvantaged in by New Jersey’s reliance on private funding for our state’s elections. As a result, issues affecting our communities, like predatory lending and racial profiling, are less likely to be addressed by elected officials."

Civil rights and voting activists agreed. "This study shows the need for reform by identifying the extent to which the system harms large segments of our society," said Lionel Leach, Director of the NAACP National Voter Fund’s New Jersey Office. Mr. Leach, co-chair of NJCA’s Board of Directors, has worked to increase voter turnout in predominantly African American neighborhoods and coordinated last year’s successful election protection effort.

The top-giving areas were Woodbridge, Mullica Hills and Colonia. Results from one zip code area, Trenton’s 08608, were excluded from the analysis, because of the abundance of West State Street firms whose donations appear to skew the data. Other major finding in the report include:

• Excluding Trenton’s 08608, contributions from the highest giving zip code areas to 2001 Gubernatorial candidates, Senators, Assembly candidates, parties, and PACs totaled $7,734,700. This is 18 times greater than the total contributions from the zip code areas with the highest percentages of people of color, $420,711.
• Mullica Hill, 08052, which ranked third highest, contributed $697,378. Mullica Hills has a small population of just fewer than 9,000 people, with less than 4% people of color. The average per capita contribution in Mullica Hill was $77.
• Newark’s South Ward, 07108 which has the highest concentration of people of color anywhere in New Jersey contributed a total of $1,050 in 2001. A population of roughly 34,000 people live in this zip code area, making the average per capita contribution 3 cents.
• The average per capita contribution from residents in the city of Woodbridge was 4400 times greater than that from residents of the Newark-South Ward zip code in which people of color comprise 99 percent ($134 compared to 3 cents).
• People of color do not comprise a majority in any of the top 20 giving zip code areas.

The findings mirror patterns seen across the country, according to Tracy Sturdivant, Field Program Organizer at Public Campaign, a national clearinghouse for campaign finance reform. "Campaign finance is not just a political issue, it is a civil rights issue," said Sturdivant. "Elections remain largely the stronghold of the racially and economically privileged."

Ms. Sturdivant led the participants in a workshop after the release of the report, in order to organize around campaign finance reform as a civil rights issue. Legislators, members of the media and leaders of organizations concerned about campaign financing were invited to participate.

NJCA’s study was modeled after a similar report conducted by Public Campaign on federal election contributions. "This study proves that the national trend is alive in the Garden State. New Jersey’s reliance on individual and political action committee contributions unfairly diminishes African American, Latino and other minority group’s political involvement," said Staci Berger, NJCA Program Director. "New Jersey needs to adopt a full public financing system for our state elections in order to balance the playing field for all residents in the Garden State."

NJ Citizen Action is the state’s largest citizen watchdog organization, representing 60,000 family members and more than 90 affiliated labor, tenant, religious, civic and senior organizations. The Citizen Policy and Education Fund of New Jersey, a 501(c)3 organization focused on training and research, assisted NJCA with this report. Members of the Fannie Lou Hamer Project also contributed to this report.

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For more information, contact: Steve Bonime – Phone: 201-488-2804 or e-mail: steve@njcitizenaction.org.