NEWS
TOP NJ/REGION
Candidates halted at condos' gates with hat and Constitution in hand
Tuesday, October 21, 2003 Good gates and good concierges make for good neighbors at the condominium and apartment complexes that dot Edgewater's waterfront.
But some argue that exclusive, gated developments in the borough and others like them around the nation are closing the door on democracy. Politicians going door-to-door to woo voters sometimes find that just getting a chance to knock on the front door poses a daunting challenge.
In Edgewater, Bergen County's fastest-growing town, one candidate says attempting to campaign in gated communities is a lot like performing a stealth military operation. On occasion, she has sneaked past security booths, hidden in stairwells, and run through corridors to avoid being kicked out of private complexes by building managers or condo association members.
"They're deciding for the people who live there whose voice they're going to hear," said Valory Bardinas, a onetime councilwoman trying to return to office. "Let the people make up their own minds."
From Miami to Scottsdale, Ariz., 50 million Americans live in private developments across the country, including those in co-ops, condominiums, and planned communities, according to the Community Associations Institute, a Virginia-based organization that collects statistics on homeowner associations. There were an estimated 250,000 such groups this year, up from 205,000 in 1998.
Being shut out of such communities is a problem faced by candidates from all political parties at all levels of government.
Democrat William Flynn, who has been unsuccessful in his two bids to join Pequannock's Township Council, publicly fought last year to gain entry into Cedar Crest Village, a 1,510-unit senior housing community off Route 23.
After being told by the property management company that he couldn't set up a table to hand out campaign literature, Flynn brought up the issue at a council meeting. The management eventually invited the Democratic challengers and Republican incumbents to appear at a candidates' forum.
"Even though they let me up there, I'm still mad at them," said Flynn, noting that there hasn't been a Democrat on the council in 23 years. "It might be 10 years before anyone else raises the question again."
In Edgewater, which has grown by more than 50 percent in recent years to about 8,000 residents, a remarkably high percentage of voters live either behind gates or in buildings that require visitors to be invited in by a resident.
An analysis by The Record shows that of the borough's 4,250 registered voters, at least 53 percent live in communities governed by condo associations or run by property management companies.
Other communities in North Jersey such as Fort Lee and Cliffside Park also have several thousand residents living within condos and co-ops.
Interviews with property managers and condo association officers in Edgewater show that the practice of campaigning door-to-door is generally prohibited in the developments, with many citing no-solicitation policies, concerns about security, and the right to privacy.
"Anyone is entitled to stand outside our gate and hand out literature," said Victor Blaufox, president of the condo association at Admiral's Walk, where 286 registered voters live. "We just don't want it in the lobby. Residents don't want to be accosted on the way to the elevator. They definitely don't want people knocking on their doors."
But civil liberties watchdogs contend that the banning of door-to-door campaigning is unconstitutional on the basis that such policies violate the First Amendment's right to free speech and the free exchange of political ideas. Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said residents have the right not to answer their doors, but candidates should not be prevented from ringing doorbells.
"If free-speech rights are not protected on private property, such as condos or gated communities, and such areas continue to expand throughout the state, then democracy is at risk," Jacobs said. "It's in all Americans' interest to allow democratic activities to thrive on private property, like malls and gated communities, so that we have an engaged, educated citizenship."
Assemblyman Matt Ahearn, a Green Party candidate from Fair Lawn, said lack of access to gated communities threatens to drive up the cost of campaigns, which he said ultimately contributes to the state's notorious "pay-to-play" system, the practice of awarding government contracts to campaign donors. It also threatens grass-roots campaigns, he added.
"As much as people don't want to be bothered with solicitations, political messages from all sides need to be heard," Ahearn said.
With Edgewater becoming increasingly popular as a Manhattan bedroom community, some political candidates say it's crucial to meet and greet as many of those new faces as possible to cultivate votes. At the gated communities and apartment towers, that task is next to impossible if candidates can't gain access, says Jim Derrig, a Republican running for Borough Council.
"These are significant hurdles," said Derrig, explaining that his only options are to mail campaign fliers and make cold calls to residents he can't meet face-to-face. "There's no access and there's no one doing anything about it."
There is no established law yet that would allow political candidates to campaign freely within private apartments or gated communities.
"It's one of the things we've been working on," said Frank Askin, director of the Constitutional Litigation Clinic at Rutgers Law School in Newark.
In New Jersey, the closest the courts have come to the issue is a 1996 appeals court decision that allowed a taxpayer association to campaign on behalf of its favored candidates within a Guttenberg condominium complex, just a half-mile south of Edgewater. But Askin, who represented the taxpayer association in the case, said the ruling is limited.
The Galaxy Towers Condominium Association tried to bar the Guttenberg Taxpayer and Rentpayers Association from campaigning within its 1,075-unit complex, arguing that its buildings were private property and open only to residents and guests. But because the condo association was considered politically active and endorsed candidates, the judge ruled that it had to create a level playing field for all political candidates.
The ruling did not address whether a condo association that was non-political would also have to allow political candidates access to residents. In Edgewater, many associations and property management companies maintain that they are non-political.
But sometimes the enforcement of no-campaign policies has seemed contingent on which party was doing the campaigning.
At Waterford Towers, an assisted-living residence where 207 registered voters live, property manager Joyce Demetrakis said the building is non-political and doesn't allow candidates to campaign. The building does bus residents to the polls each year as a service, she added.
When asked about Democrats handing out free turkeys inside the lobby to residents just before Election Day last year, Demetrakis said the turkey giveaway was about Thanksgiving, not about votes. Demetrakis acknowledged that she did escort independent candidate Bardinas and other independent candidates out of the building last year after she found them attempting to knock on doors at the River Road high-rise.
Demetrakis said it's a question of privacy, not politics.
"It comes down to the same level as telemarketers," she said. "People come home and they don't want to be bothered."
Yet even the national do-not-call registry that aims to protect Americans from unwanted solicitations over the phone doesn't apply to political calls.
Sen. Jon Corzine, D-N.J., said banning candidates from going door-to-door stifles the political process. He said there needs to be a law created at the state or local level to ensure that candidates can freely campaign door-to-door, no matter where the doors are located. Corzine, who spent an estimated $65 million of his own money to make sure voters knew his name in 2000, said walking the sidewalks and ringing doorbells was an invaluable tool during his bid for the Senate because he was able to learn from New Jerseyans what their concerns were.
"I'm not sure it's healthy for democracy," Corzine said of banning candidates from private communities.
Candidates could sue condo associations for access, but time constraints and legal costs make that impractical. GOP candidate Derrig and independent candidates in Edgewater said pursuing litigation also threatens to alienate the voters they are trying to reach.
Derrig said he feels Democrats, who control the council 6-1, have an unfair advantage at the private communities because three incumbent Democrats live within their gates.
At Independence Harbor, where private streets such as Jefferson Court and Adams Court are named for the framers of the Constitution, Democratic Councilman Dale Ludwig also serves as the condo president.
Ludwig, who was elected last year, said there are more effective ways to reach voters - such as mailers and cable-TV ads - than going door-to-door.
That can be costly. Last year, Edgewater Democrats spent slightly more than $59,000 to win two council seats, up from $44,000 in the 2001 race and $23,000 in 2000, campaign finance records show.
If candidates want to gain entry into private communities, Ludwig said, there are proper channels they can follow, such as finding a resident who would host private coffee parties at a complex on their behalf.
Ludwig said that the Independence Harbor association's bylaws prevent even residents from campaigning door-to-door, so he, too, was prohibited from the practice last year in his own complex, where 322 registered voters live.
"I'm not trying to restrict anybody, but these are the condo rules," Ludwig said. "We're going to keep coming back to the same thing unless a federal court says it's against the law."
E-mail: fasbach@northjersey.com
