Federal investigators issued subpoena in 2020 seeking records on top Murphy campaign aides

Federal prosecutors sought emails and text messages relating to two top staffers on New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s first gubernatorial campaign and a prominent lobbying and communications firm, according to a 2020 grand jury subpoena obtained by POLITICO.

One of those former staffers is Murphy’s 2017 campaign manager, Brendan Gill, an Essex County commissioner who is reportedly planning a run for state Assembly.

The subpoena, received from a person granted anonymity to divulge an aspect of a federal inquiry, covers a period from Jan. 1, 2017 until the February 2020 date of the subpoena — which encompasses much of Murphy’s first gubernatorial campaign and the first half of his first term.

It’s unlikely anything came or will come of the inquiry, as the statute of limitations for most federal crimes is five years. The U.S. Attorney’s office declined to confirm or deny anything about the subpoena, and none of the people named in the subpoena have been charged.

The subpoena requested “any and all records and documents, including, but not limited to emails and text messages, to, or from, or pertaining to” to six people and entities:

• Gill and his public affairs and political consulting firm, The BGill Group.
  

• Adam Alonso, a former Murphy campaign aide and later deputy chief of staff in his administration who was forced out of a job helping organize the 2020 Democratic National Convention following “concerns about the work environment and certain members of staff leadership.” The subpoena also sought records related to Alonso’s political consulting company, The Cratos Group.
  

• Vision Media Marketing, a communications firm based in Hudson County that does extensive work with many Democrats, including the Democratic State Committee.
  

• Public Strategies Impact, a lobbying firm that formed a “strategic partnership” with Gill’s firm a little over a month after Murphy was first elected.

It’s not clear from the subpoena what authorities were looking into. But, according to a different person familiar with the inquiry who was granted anonymity to discuss one aspect of the proceeding, federal authorities interviewed one person from Gill and Alonso’s circle in early 2023 about the two men’s private consulting businesses.
In a statement in response to a request for comment about the subpoena, Gill said: “I am proud of the work The BGiLL group has produced. Until contacted by POLITICO, we were unaware of the inquiry. To be clear, our firm was never subpoenaed or even questioned regarding this four year old matter. Whatever may have been looked at in 2017, if anything, was looked at by the campaign and dismissed.”

Lee Vartan, an attorney for Alonso, said he was asking the U.S. Attorney’s Office to provide a letter stating the office is not investigating his client, but he did not provide one by Sunday night. Such letters are extremely rare.

Alonso said in a statement late Sunday evening that he was never questioned in the matter.

“The first I heard about this three-year-old subpoena was from the reporter last week,” Alonso said. “I was never contacted by any investigator and that is not surprising. The allegations were thoroughly investigated and dismissed by the campaign years ago.”

Gill’s relationship with Public Strategies Impact as an “affiliate” with the firm — instead of as a lobbyist — is unusual in New Jersey. Unlike registered lobbyists, he doesn’t have to disclose clients or interactions he’s had with the administration or decision-makers. Although critics have called it a form of “shadow lobbying,” the practice is in accordance with state law.

Allegations about Alonso’s and Gill’s consulting businesses simmered just beneath a more public dispute between Gill and Julie Roginsky, an early strategist for Murphy’s 2017 campaign.

Roginsky publicly accused Gill and others of creating a misogynistic working environment — a charge Gill denied and campaign officials characterized as the byproduct of a power struggle.

In a series of campaign emails the Murphy campaign provided to the press in order to counter those allegations in 2020 — a few weeks before the subpoena was sent — Roginsky also claimed that Alonso and Gill were leveraging their relationship with Murphy to make money in their private businesses.

In a July 4, 2017 email to two campaign attorneys, Roginsky accused Gill of “lashing out because I raised the issue several months ago of how Adam Alonso is making money off his relationship with Phil [Murphy]” that would “lead to massive problems for Phil down the road.”

A week later, Roginsky wrote to one of the attorneys, saying “I’ve had to deal with complaints from multiple people … about the profiteering by staff going on.” She listed several lobbyists, and alleged that “Phil's money appears to be spent in ways that apparently benefit Freeholder Gill and not Phil Murphy.” (County commissioners in New Jersey were previously known as freeholders.)

Murphy campaign attorney Jonathan Berkon in 2020 denied Roginsky’s allegations, saying the campaign talked to one of the people Roginsky claimed had complained and had not heard from the others. Berkon said “many on the campaign” felt Roginsky did this to “publicly tarnish Brendan and Adam, and to bolster the political standing of other clients.”

Bill Maer, senior partner for Public Strategies Impact, said in a statement: “Until the reporter inquiry, we were unaware of the issue. No one has spoken to us and to be clear our firm was never subpoenaed, or for that matter even questioned regarding this three and half year old issue.”

Vision Media’s chief operating officer, Phil Swibinski, said his firm has “never” received any subpoena. “We take a lot of pride in our positive reputation and it’s unfortunate that someone is spreading misinformation like this to score cheap political points,” he said in a statement.

While Alonso has kept a low profile following the Democratic National Convention debacle, Gill remains a prominent force in New Jersey politics who is still considered close to Murphy.

Gill’s wife, Alixon Collazos-Gill, in June won the Democratic nomination for Assembly in the heavily-Democratic 27th District, following the retirement announcement of longtime Assemblymember Tom Giblin.

But state Sen. Richard Codey’s surprise retirement announcement led to behind-the-scenes wrangling to replace him, with Gill and Assemblymember John McKeon (D-Essex) both considering seeking the Senate seat in a special Democratic convention. According to numerous media reports, Democrats in the district recently reached an accord in which McKeon will run for the Senate seat and Gill will run for Assembly in the general election instead of his wife, even though she won the nomination.