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NJ legislature OKs 'Election Transparency' law critics say weakens campaign finance rules
By
Nancy Solomon
Published Mar 30, 2023
Modified Mar 31, 2023
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By
Nancy Solomon
Published Mar 30, 2023
Modified Mar 31, 2023
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Both houses of the New Jersey State Legislature passed a bill on Thursday that allows larger campaign contributions and loosens the restrictions on donations from government contractors — sending the bill to Gov. Phil Murphy.
The Elections Transparency Act doubles campaign contribution limits, and allows companies with government contracts to contribute to political party campaign committees. It invalidates local pay-to-play laws in favor of generally weaker statewide standards.
“This bill effectively rolls back years, years of progress, in fighting corruption in our election system,” said Assemblyman Brian Bergen (R-Morris).
The bill’s most significant transparency provision would require so-called “dark money groups” – 501(c)(4) nonprofits and 501(c)(6) trade organizations — to report donations more than $7,500, which can currently be kept secret.
The Assembly voted 42-30 to pass the bill. The state Senate had approved another version earlier in the month, and voted through a version with amendments to match the Assembly’s version 21-12 on Thursday. Only one Democratic senator voted against it, despite opposition from many good government groups.
“We must have reform based on a foundation of public transparency. Reform that secures our elections from improper influence and expands access for the people,” state Sen. Nia Gill (D-Essex) said in a statement sent to Gothamist. “A fair and impartial campaign finance system is essential to preserving the foundations of our democracy. This legislation creates the opposite. “
The bill was sponsored by Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-Union).
“This bill represents a far better system than what’s in place already. Clearly there’s much more transparency that is going to be gleaned as a result of this bill than what we have,” Scutari said during an earlier debate on it.
Scutari has also rejected criticism of one of the provisions that shortens the time the Election Law Enforcement Commission, known as ELEC, can investigate campaign finance violations, from 10 years to two. He cited a case where a local politician was fined seven years after a violation.
“It absolutely makes no sense,” Scutari said during the earlier debate. “That’s why we have to make sure that they prioritize what they’re doing over there. That is why compliance and deterrence should be what we’re about here and in order to do that, we have to lower the scope of what they can look at.”
Assemblyman Louis Greenwald sponsored the legislation in the Assembly, arguing that dark money groups will now have to disclose their donors.
“You don’t know who has made those donations. I believe that is wrong. The taxpayers have a right to know and our voters have a right to know,” Greenwald said Thursday.
The bill was opposed by the League of Women Voters and New Jersey Policy Perspective. Henal Patel, policy director for the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, said she objects most to shortening the time ELEC can investigate violations.
“So essentially, anyone who's violating campaign finance laws that ELEC hasn't had a chance to investigate, will just get away with it,” Patel said. “And we need to recognize that ELEC isn't the most resourced commission, you know – it takes a little while to do these investigations.”
The version of the final bill that passed included a 30% rise in the ELEC budget.
Murphy has found himself embroiled in controversy and an ensuing lawsuit over the Election Law Enforcement Commission’s leadership.
A female employee filed an Equal Employment Opportunity complaint against the commission’s executive director, Jeffrey Brindle, for an email he forwarded about National Coming Out Day, to which he added, “Are you coming out? No Lincoln or Washington’s birthday, but we can celebrate National Coming Out Day?”
More emails have been revealed by government transparency activist and lawyer, C.J. Griffin, who filed a public records request for other Brindle emails. She found many that commented on issues of concern to transgender individuals. For instance, when state officials suggested employees add pronouns to their email signatures, Brindle sent a message to another staff member, writing “Give me a break.” He sent a message to a staff member with a link to an article about a transgender woman who impregnated fellow inmates in a New Jersey women’s prison, writing “We truly are living through insane times.”
Murphy’s senior staff confronted Brindle and tried to get him to sign a resignation letter. He refused and filed a lawsuit against Murphy and his staff.
This week, ELEC’s commissioners declined to take any action against Brindle, supporting his defense that the email has nothing to do with how he manages his employees, and saying they found no testimony that he’d created a hostile work environment.
The version of the Elections Transparency Act that passed Thursday has a provision that would allow the governor to replace the commissioners without Senate confirmation – potentially giving him an avenue to install members who would fire Brindle.
But Thursday afternoon, the three current members of the commission — all appointed by former Gov. Chris Christie — submitted their resignations, NJ.com reported. ELEC Chairman Eric Jaso said in a resignation letter the law would “largely gut ELEC” and “render it unable to further its missions of transparency and accountability," according to the report. The two members who reviewed the accusations against Brindle earlier this week had suggested in their comments they expected their time with the commission was coming to an end.
On the the “Ask Governor Murphy” call-in show on WNYC earlier this month, Murphy said he wouldn’t comment specifically on the legislation nor the lawsuit.
“Anything we believe that is on the side of transparency, that is responsible, that opens up democracy, that shines a light ... we’re going to be for,” Murphy said at the time.
This story has been updated to add that current members of ELEC submitted their resignations Thursday.
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Nancy Solomon
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