Not Getting What You Paid For - CWA Edition

Here is the second post in my ongoing series of looks at how much money NJ public union workers gave to Democratic candidates who sold them out by voting with Chris Christie to slash their health care and pensions.

Again: these are the Democrats in the Hall of Shame and how much money they took. Today's contributor is the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which represents more than 55,000 public workers in New Jersey:

Assembly:

• John Burzichelli (District 3, Paulsboro - Deputy Speaker): $2,500, split with running mate Celeste Riley
• Herb Conaway Jr. (District 7, Delanco): $1000
• Jack Conners (District 7, Pennsauken - Deputy Speaker): $1000
• Albert Coutinho (District 29, Newark): $2900
• Angel Fuentes (District 5, Camden): $1000
• Louis Greenwald (District 6, Vorhees - Budget Chair): $0
• Pamela R. Lampitt (District 6, Vorhees): $0
• Matthew Milam (District 1, Vineland): $31, 400, but this was shared with his joint candidate partner, Nelson Albano; the figure represents contributions for both the primary and the general elections.
• Paul D. Moriarty (District 4, Washington Twp.): $0
• Sheila Y. Oliver (District 34, East Orange - Assembly Speaker): $14700
• Celeste Riley (District 3, Bridgeton): See above for John Burzichelli
• Kevin J. Ryan (District 36, Nutley): $0
• L. Grace Spencer (District 29, Newark - Deputy Speaker) $0
• Gilbert L. "Whip" Wilson (District 5 - Camden): $600

Senate:

• Jim Beach - (District 6, Vorhees): $350
• Fred Madden - (District 4, Washington Township): $0
• Donald Norcross - (District 5, Camden): $1000, plus another $8600 for his race in the Assembly.
• Teresa Ruiz - (District 29, Newark): $0
• Brian Stack - (District 33, Union City): $1000
• Steve Sweeney - (District 3, West Deptford, Senate President): $0
• Jeff Van Drew - (District 1, Dennis Township): $600
• Jim Whelan - (District 2, Atlantic City): $500

Some additional notes:

• CWA also gave $12300 to Republicans, none of whom voted against the benefits "reforms."
• CWA gave $74000 to the Essex County Democratic Committee, stomping grounds of Speaker Sheila Oliver. The "boss" of Essex, Joseph "Joe D" DiVincenzo, a close ally of George Norcross and infamous double-dipper, got an additional $2600 from CWA for his County Executive race.
• CWA gave a total of $387,060 to the county Democratic committees, and $80,750 to the NJ State Democratic Committee; a good portion of that money clearly benefitted the Dems who voted against CWA's members' interests.

And if you love you some irony, check out CWA's statement today as Christie signed the bill:

The Communications Workers of America released the following statement today from Hetty Rosenstein, CWA’s New Jersey State Director: 

“Today is a sad day for hundreds of thousands of New Jersey working families who will get a pay cut at the stroke of Gov. Christie's pen. 

“It is a downright awful day for the Democratic Party, which has abandoned the middle-class and its own core values for the sake of a political backroom deal. The party which once stood for workers' rights has torn itself apart under the leadership of self-interested political bosses. 

“With public workers offering hundreds of millions of dollars in savings at the bargaining table, this bill was always a choice. The working people of New Jersey will remember those who stood up for collective bargaining, and we will remember those who joined Christie's attacks on public workers.”

Here was another choice: giving money to politicians who stab you in the back. Well, fool me once...