Westfield, NJ political money — 2008 cycle

Westfield, NJ × 2008: the join

$294,396 is the overlap of two FEC dimensions: contributor city WESTFIELD with state NJ, and election cycle 2008. The match is $294,396 across 90 itemized contribution rows. The city side of the table, covering every cycle in the aggregate, is $23,030,910. 2008 therefore accounts for 1.3% of Westfield, NJ itemized individual dollars in these facts. The remaining $22,736,514 (98.7%) was itemized in other cycles under the same city label.

This is not a restatement of Westfield, NJ. That hub mixes 2008 with every other even-year window filed under WESTFIELD. It is also not a restatement of the 2008 election cycle hub, which mixes Westfield, NJ with every other donor city in the United States. The 90 rows and $294,396 exist only where both filters are true. Correlation is not causation: a city code plus a cycle year does not prove why someone gave.

FEC individual contribution files record the contributor's city as entered on the itemized receipt. Spellings and suburb-versus-city choices can split a metro across multiple city pages. Westfield, NJ here is the string that survived aggregation as WESTFIELD in NJ. 2008 is a presidential FEC cycle: a two-year window that includes a presidential general election. That calendar fact does not explain why Westfield, NJ donors itemized $294,396. Source: FEC.gov individual contribution aggregates by donor city and election cycle.

All-cycle Westfield, NJ versus this window

The city aggregate for Westfield, NJ is $23,030,910 in itemized individual contributions. That figure is the running total for this city label across cycles, not a single-year census and not a count of unique residents. It includes the $294,396 from 2008 and the $22,736,514 from every other cycle in the same city file. State-level NJ campaign-finance pages still mix Westfield with every other city in NJ.

The stored city is the Town of Westfield in Union County, New Jersey. Summit, Cranford, and Elizabeth are not rolled into WESTFIELD. State NJ stays on the citation so Westfield, NJ is not merged with a same-named place in another state. $23,030,910 is the NJ key only. For Westfield, NJ, the city stack is $23,030,910 while this cycle is $294,396 (1.3%). Use the city hub for Westfield, NJ without a year filter; use this tie for Westfield in 2008. Donor city is not recipient city: committees that received these gifts can file anywhere in the FEC system. WESTFIELD in NJ is not merged with Westfield, MA or other same-named keys.

What the 2008 presidential window holds for Westfield

Federal election cycles are two-year windows on FEC.gov. The 2008 cycle is the Commission's cycle tag on itemized receipts, not a calendar year of January gifts only. Inside that window, Westfield, NJ donors itemized $294,396 on 90 contribution records. Dividing dollars by rows gives a mean of about $3,271 per itemized gift. That mean is an arithmetic average of rows, not a typical donor and not a median. This page does not publish a median or a unique-donor count.

The national 2008 hub still includes every other city. State pages for NJ still include every other cycle. Only this join isolates Westfield × 2008. Unitemized contributions below the FEC itemization threshold are omitted. Independent expenditures and committee-to-committee transfers are other tables. 90 itemized rows with a mean near $3,271 is a thin file with large average lines, not a census of households. Treat 90 as receipts, not unique people. A high mean is $294,396 divided by 90 — arithmetic, not a wealth ranking. This URL is the intersection only.

A 1.3% cut of the Westfield stack

1.3% of $23,030,910 is a slice of the city book, not a ranking against other cities. Put another way, about 1.3% of Westfield, NJ's itemized individual dollars in this aggregate were filed in 2008, and about 98.7% were not. Those percentages are $294,396 divided by $23,030,910 and $22,736,514 divided by $23,030,910. They are not shares of state totals, national cycle totals, or eligible voters.

Dollar share (1.3%) and row volume (90 itemized gifts) are separate facts. This packet does not include a citywide row count across all cycles, so a row-share percentage is not computed. Do not treat 1.3% as Westfield's share of the 2008 national cycle, which is a different denominator and is not in these facts. Union County is a geography note for readers; it is not a Census population weight on $294,396.

What $294,396 does not measure

90 itemized contributions totaling $294,396 is the operational definition of this page. The FEC file can list the same household on multiple dates, to multiple committees, and under spelling variants of WESTFIELD. Unique-person counts are not in the packet and are not invented here. Neither is a ranking of Westfield versus other NJ cities: this join has one geography and one cycle.

Mean gift size of about $3,271 uses only the two numbers in the join: $294,396 and 90 rows. It is a trivial ratio, not a finding about wealth, turnout, or ideology. Employer and occupation strings on those receipts are other joins. This page does not break $294,396 out by occupation, industry, or recipient committee. City labels are filer-entered. A donor who typed WESTFIELD is counted; a nearby suburb they typed instead is not recoded into Westfield.

Reading Westfield and 2008 together without mixing tables

This page does not rank Westfield against other cities and does not treat itemized giving as public opinion in NJ. Two columns matched. Contributor city is not campaign city. A NJ address does not mean the money supported a NJ candidate. Amended reports can move either number. If the live Westfield, NJ hub or the live 2008 cycle hub disagrees with this prose, the newer FEC extract controls.

Unitemized gifts, independent expenditures, and non-individual sources are omitted. See Westfield, NJ, the 2008 election cycle, New Jersey campaign finance, and all FEC ties for the adjacent tables. Dollar figures are FEC itemized individual contribution aggregates. They are not federal spending awards and they do not fund USAspending totals. Source: FEC.gov.

Questions

How much did Westfield, NJ donors give in the 2008 election cycle?

FEC itemized individual contributions from donors listing Westfield, NJ total $294,396 in the 2008 cycle, across 90 contribution records. The same city label totals $23,030,910 across all cycles in this aggregate, so 2008 is 1.3% of that city stack. Figures are from FEC.gov city-by-cycle aggregates.

Is the Westfield, NJ city total only for 2008?

No. The city aggregate of $23,030,910 covers every cycle in the table for WESTFIELD. The 2008 filter is $294,396 from 90 itemized gifts. Other cycles hold $22,736,514. Use the city hub for the all-cycle total and this tie page for the 2008 slice.

Did Westfield, NJ 2008 donations stay in NJ?

Not necessarily. Donor city is Westfield, NJ; recipients can be committees anywhere that file with the FEC. This join does not allocate the $294,396 by office, state of the committee, or party. A NJ city code is an address field on the individual receipt, not a map of NJ races.

How many Westfield, NJ contributions were itemized in 2008?

90 itemized contribution records sum to $294,396. That count is rows, not unique donors. The arithmetic mean is about $3,271 per row. Unitemized gifts below the FEC threshold and independent expenditures are not included. Citywide unique-donor counts are not in these facts.