The Star Ledger
April 28, 2005
JOSH MARGOLIN AND KELLY HEYBOER
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey vice president
who approved a controversial donation to a charity run by
a Newark councilwoman had longstanding business ties to the
politician's family, according to state documents.
UMDNJ came under fire earlier this month for donating $10,000
to an unregistered breast cancer charity run by Newark City
Councilwoman Gayle Chaneyfield-Jenkins.
The donation to the charity, Women with Hats On for the Cure,
was approved by Christy Davis Jackson, a newly hired UMDNJ
vice president.
Less than two months before the UMDNJ donation was approved,
Davis Jackson was working as a lobbyist for Babyland Family
Services, a Newark nonprofit founded by Chaneyfield-Jenkins'
late mother, according to documents on file with the state
Election Law Enforcement Commission.
Davis Jackson declined to comment on the donation. But a spokesman
for Chaneyfield-Jenkins said the UMDNJ donation and the vice
president's ties to her family were unrelated.
"She gets no money from Babyland. There's no quid pro
quo," said Josh Davison, an aide to Chaneyfield-Jenkins.
Babyland, a Newark nonprofit child care center, is run by
Chaneyfield-Jenkins' aunt and the councilwoman's husband sits
on its board.
Mary Palmer Smith, Babyland's $216,000-a-year executive director,
said Davis Jackson worked as a lobbyist for her organization
from April or May 2002 through September 2003. She earned
more than $50,000, Smith said.
Davis Jackson's lobbying firm, Davis and Partners in Newark,
listed the nonprofit as one of its clients through the summer
of 2004, according to state documents.
Davis Jackson was hired as UMDNJ's vice president for government
affairs last August. Less than two months later, she sent
a letter to Chaneyfield-Jenkins, saying UMDNJ "is pleased
to support the Women with Hats on for the Cure reception ...
Please accept our gift of platinum sponsorship of $10,000
with much appreciation."
UMDNJ President John Petillo earlier this month deemed the
donation improper because the breast cancer group was not
a registered charity and because the funds came out of a taxpayer-supported
account.
Though Davis Jackson declined to discuss the donation, she
said she severed ties with her lobbying firm three days before
she took the $156,000-a-year UMDNJ job. She also said she
terminated all outside business obligations, though she acknowledged
she did not file the required notice to lobbying regulators
in Trenton.
"It was an oversight and that's all it was," Davis
Jackson said.
Davis Jackson referred further inquiries to her attorney,
John Fahy, who did not respond to questions.
Davis Jackson also failed to file mandatory annual lobbying
reports showing how much she earned from her clients between
2002 and 2004, according to documents on file with ELEC.
Christopher Paladino, a member of UMDNJ's board of trustees,
said he wants to know exactly how and when Davis Jackson severed
her relationship with her lobbying firm and whether it was
done properly.
"I've asked President Petillo to advise the board of
all the details surrounding these issues relating to Christy
Davis Jackson," Paladino said.
