Companies That Do Business With Middletown School District Donated To Students, Parents, Taxpayers Slate

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Several companies that have done business with the Middletown school district donated to school board candidates Sara Weinstein, James Cody and Chris Aveta, running under the slate name of Students, Parents, Taxpayers.

This is according to an Oct. 6 filing all the candidates were required to file here with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.

CLB Partners donated $1,000 to their campaign. CLB Partners is a major lobbying firm in the state of New Jersey; both the Middletown school district and Middletown Township have hired CLB in the past to do lobbying. The donation was made under the name of Karen Kominsky, a partner at CLB.

Richard Kosinsky, one of the founders of Brio Benefits, also donated $1,000 to their campaign. Brio Benefits is an insurance broker the district uses. Save Middletown Schools, which was the first to report the campaign contributions, said Brio was paid $180,000 by the Middletown school district this year for health benefits administration fees.

Kominsky and Kosinsky did not respond Wednesday when Patch asked them why they donated to that particular slate.

And finally, Alliance Health made the largest donation to their campaign, giving them $10,000. Just last month, the school board approved Alliance to put up advertising signs on the new football scoreboards at Middletown High School North and South. The Middletown school board approved Alliance's request to do the advertising at their Sept. 30 meeting.

Alliance will pay the district $10,000 per year every year for the next five years to post their ads on the scoreboards.

Patch asked Alliance CFO Bryan Fuerst why his company donated to that slate. He responded Wednesday:

"Alliance Health is deeply committed to giving back to the communities we serve — especially local schools that play such a vital role in shaping future generations. Several members of our team are proud Middletown alumni and residents, so supporting initiatives that strengthen our schools and benefit local families aligns closely with our company’s values and community mission."

There are other donations to the Weinstein/Cody/Aveta slate that raised eyebrows in Middletown:

They were given a $1,000 donation from Middletown Mayor Tony Perry, made under Tony Perry for Township Committee, and a $250 donation from Marisa Capone, the wife of current school board president Frank Capone. Also, Middletown resident Andrew Melnick, who sits on the board of the Monmouth County Improvement Authority, gave them $1,000.

Cody himself made a $5,000 donation to their campaign. (Cody previously served on the Middletown school board, from 2011 to 2017.)

Of the seven candidates running for school board this year in Middletown, the Weinstein/Cody/Aveta slate has come out the most strongly against the 10.1 percent school tax increase the school board approved earlier this year. When asked about the donations they received, the Students, Parents, Taxpayers slate said Wednesday:

"We are grateful that members of the community, including business owners, support our candidacy for Board of Education. The tax increase that six board members and two challengers embraced last year has not done anything to enhance our district, but rather has made it more unaffordable to live and work. This is a common theme brought to our attention by the community and our supporters and we are eager to work to correct it."

The ELEC filings, which are publicly available here, were first unearthed by parent advocacy group Save Middletown Schools, which formed last spring after the district first announced it sought to close two schools — a shocking announcement to residents. Since then, Save Middletown Schools has fought for greater transparency from the Middletown school district.

The group first published the ELEC findings Sunday to its Facebook page.

"As always, Save Middletown Schools is a group of concerned parents who want to protect our community schools, promote transparency and accountability, and ensure that all voters have access to pertinent information," said Jenny Cox, a media spokeswoman for Save Middletown Schools.

By law, candidates for elected office must report donations above $200, if they have a campaign fundraising account. Current Board member Leonora Lacqua-Caminiti, seeking re-election, does not have a campaign fundraising account. James Dobis and Joe Fitzgerald do, but they did not report any donations above $200. And finally, BOE candidate Erin Torres received donations from the public. According to her October ELEC filing, all donations she received were between $200 and $600. Save Middletown Schools said it was "13 individual Middletown community members" who donated to her.

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