THOUSANDS RAISED AND SPENT IN SCHOOL BOARD RACE

The final campaign contribution filings for the South Orange Maplewood School Board race find that Susie Adamson and Anthony Mazzocchi spent thousands of dollars each, but information for Stephanie Lawson-Muhammad, James Davis and Johanna Wright is something of an unknown.

The five candidates were vying for three seats on the board in the November election, which ended with Lawson-Muhammad and Wright winning re-election and Adamson taking the open seat left by Beth Daugherty, who chose not to run again. 

According to the latest disclosure reports, Adamson raised $4,750 and spent the same amount while Mazzocchi raised $3,858.94, which included a $3,058.98 loan from himself, and also spent his entire account.

Lawson-Muhammad and Davis, who ran together, filed a joint disclosure form that did not indicate total cash received or spent. State law does not require a joint committee to disclose such details if it raises less than $8,500, and only for individual contributions of more than $300.

Lawson-Muhammad and Davis did detail three larger contributions, which included a $500 loan from Lawson-Muhammad to the committee, $1,000 from former board member Beth Daugherty, and $500 from James Lipscomb of Scottsdale, Arizona.

Wright had filed only an initial organizational disclosure form in September, but said she believed her committee had raised about $6,100, which would be filed soon. She said her treasurer had been unable to file due to health issues. It is unknown what if any penalties she would incur for that delay.