FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, April 4, 2023
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Ross Sherman, RepresentUs Media Relations Manager, 207-749-2660, rsherman@represent.us
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill into law Monday that promotes corruption and makes it harder to hold corrupt special interests accountable. Among other provisions, the so-called Election Transparency Act doubles the amount that individuals and other groups can donate to political campaigns, and makes it much harder for the state to hold politicians accountable when they violate campaign finance law.
It appears this law passed for purely political reasons. New Jersey’s Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) was created 50 years ago to be a government watchdog for campaign finance-related offenses. In January, ELEC filed four complaints – three against sketchy fundraising from Democratic-aligned groups, and one against a group supportive of Republicans. The law not only shortens the amount of time ELEC has to investigate corruption allegations, it does it retroactively – forcing ELEC to drop 80 percent of the cases it's already investigating. All three members of ELEC, two Democrats and one Republican, resigned in protest of this new law.
RepresentUs CEO Joshua Graham Lynn and Statewide Lead for RepresentUs of New Jersey David Goodman issued the following statements in response:
“The Election Transparency Act is the definition of false advertising – give me a break. It should be called the Corrupt Special Interests Get out of Jail Free Card Act. This is precisely what voters across the country hate about politics,” said Lynn. “At a time when we need more ethics rules, more confidence in government, and more power in voters’ hands, New Jersey is going backward. Apparently, they want to return to a world with backroom deals, dark money, and influence peddling to the highest bidder. This is a win for lobbyists and the politicians they bankroll, but it's a loss for everyone else in the Garden State. We urge the New Jersey Legislature to immediately reverse the pro-special interest, anti-transparency provisions within this bill.”
“The Elections Transparency Act makes a mockery of transparency,” said Goodman. “Gov. Murphy signed it last night, with no public ceremony and only a one-sentence reference to his signature. The law suspends for 90 days the State Senate's review of new commissioners. The Governor alone makes these appointments with no oversight. The new law wipes out any investigations and fines over two years old. Future ‘dark money’ investigations have to be 'won and done' within two years or they get wiped out too. The Legislature turned a deaf ear to our appeals to make changes before rushing the bill to the Governor to sign. Not a good day for democracy.”
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