Baselice campaign says its state report named the wrong donor for $5,000 and will correct it, after Hudson TV's questions

Hudson TV Exclusive.

NORTH BERGEN — Hudson County Commissioner Robert P. Baselice’s re-election campaign says its state campaign finance report listed the wrong contributor for $5,000 it received in January, and that it will file an amended report, the campaign’s treasurer told Hudson TV.

As filed, the report lists $10,000 in six contributions dated Jan. 8, 2026, under the name of restaurateur Alan Lopez, the owner of the Rumba Cubana restaurant group, and five business names. Treasurer Francis O’Keefe said in an email that two of those entries, $2,500 each, should have been listed under Nairelys Rodriguez. “A clerical error inadvertently listed Mr. Lopez as the contributor,” he wrote. “(This will show in an amended report).”

New Jersey’s 2026 limit for a contribution to a county commissioner candidate is $5,500 per election, according to the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC). With the change, the campaign says, each person gave $5,000. “The two contributors are below the $5,500 per election limit,” O’Keefe wrote.

When Hudson TV checked ELEC’s online contribution search at 10:41 a.m. Friday, Oct. 16, all six entries were still listed under Lopez, and no 2026 contribution was listed under the name Nairelys Rodriguez.

Baselice, a Democrat who represents District 8 (North Bergen and part of Secaucus), is unopposed on the Nov. 3 ballot.

What the report shows

The contributions appear on Friends of Robert P. Baselice’s 29-day pre-primary report (Form R-1), first filed May 4 and amended May 22, 2026. All six are dated Jan. 8 and list the same home address in Franklin Lakes. None is marked as a cash contribution. The report lists the contributor’s name and an employer for each:

• “Lopez, Alan,” Rumba of Rochell Park LLC: $1,000
• “Lopez, Alan,” AL-5 Properties LLC: $1,000
• “Lopez, Alan,” Olivio Mediterranean Fare LLC: $1,500
• “Lopez, Alan,” Rumba Cubana 70 West Passaic LLC: $1,500
• “Lopez, Allan,” Rumba Cubana: $2,500
• “Lopez, Allan,” Rumba Cubana: $2,500

The last two, spelled “Allan,” are the entries the campaign says belong to Nairelys Rodriguez. The first four add up to $5,000.

Rumba Cubana’s website lists Alan Lopez and Nairelys Lopez as the restaurant group’s owners. A Florida corporate filing lists Alan Lopez and Nairelys Rodriguez as members of Rumba of Palm Springs LLC, using the same North Bergen post office box that appears on the ELEC entries. The group’s restaurants include a Rumba’s Café that opened in 2024 in the Lake House at James J. Braddock Park, a Hudson County park in North Bergen. Baselice attended that ribbon-cutting, according to North Bergen Township.

Five months after the January contributions, following the June 2 primary, the campaign paid Rumba Cubana $6,818.82 for food and refreshments for its election-day poll workers, according to its amended post-primary report.

What the campaign said

Hudson TV emailed questions to Baselice at his county email address on Oct. 13 and asked that they be passed to his treasurer. O’Keefe replied by email on Oct. 15, before the deadline Hudson TV had set. His answers, in full:

• On the two $2,500 entries: “A clerical error inadvertently listed Mr. Lopez as the contributor. The correct contributor is Nairelys Rodriguez. (This will show in an amended report)”
• On who signed the checks and which accounts they were drawn on: “Signed & drawn as stated on the report”
• On whether any were credited to another member of a limited liability company: “They were not allocated to another member. All records are in accordance with N.J.A.C. 19:25-7.1”
• On the $5,500 limit: “The two contributors are below the $5,500 per election limit.”
• On D Construction: “A clerical error stated the incorrect address for D. Construction. The correct address for D. Construction is 25 E. 24th St, Bayonne 07002-3726”
• On whether Rumba’s Café at Braddock Park operates under a county agreement: “Please refer to the County of Hudson Purchasing Department.”

N.J.A.C. 19:25-7.1, the rule O’Keefe cited, requires a campaign treasurer to keep a written record of each contribution, including the contributor’s name and address and the name of the account the check was drawn on.

What the rules say

Under ELEC’s rules (N.J.A.C. 19:25-11.10), a limited liability company can’t make political contributions as an entity. A check drawn on an LLC account is “deemed to be a contribution from the member or members who signed” it. A separate rule (N.J.A.C. 19:25-11.9) adds together contributions from corporations that the same person owns more than 30 percent of.

A free search of New Jersey’s business-name registry shows a “Rumba of Rochelle Park LLC” (formed 2016) and a “70 West Passaic LLC” (formed 2019, North Bergen). No New Jersey entity registered exactly as “AL-5 Properties LLC,” “Olivio Mediterranean Fare LLC” or “Rumba Cubana” turned up. The free search doesn’t list owners.

Two Bayonne contributors

The same report lists two more contributions dated Jan. 8: $5,500 from C & A Development Co. and $5,000 from D Construction. Both list P.O. Box 1009 in Bayonne, a post office box that Bayonne land-use records also list for other developers. O’Keefe said the D Construction address was a clerical error and gave a street address in Bayonne. New Jersey’s business registry lists a D Construction Company, Inc., in Bayonne, formed in 1992. O’Keefe’s response did not say who owns either company, and Hudson TV has not determined whether they share ownership.

The campaign’s money

Baselice’s campaign reported raising $86,177 for the primary, nearly all of it dated Jan. 8. In an amended post-primary report filed Oct. 3, it reported moving its remaining $64,859.63 into its general-election account on June 30. Its general-election report, filed the same day, shows no new contributions since then.

Hudson TV will update this story when the amended report is filed, and with any response from Lopez, Rodriguez or Hudson County.