Head of NJ ELEC sues Murphy, says new campaign finance law overhaul is unconstitutional

The head of New Jersey's campaign finance watchdog sued Gov. Phil Murphy on Thursday — the second lawsuit he has filed against the governor this year — challenging the constitutionality of the controversial and recently signed Elections Transparency Act, which overhauled the elections agency and campaign finance rules in the state.

Jeff Brindle, executive director of the Election Law Enforcement Commission, or ELEC, seeks to block contentious sections of the law (S2866) that allow Murphy to directly appoint the four members of the agency board without the advice and consent of the Senate within a 90-day period, as well as a provision that slashes the amount of time the commission has to investigate campaign finance violations from 10 years to two years after a violation was committed. The law made the change retroactive, which cleared the majority of the agency's current caseload of alleged violations being investigated.

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In the Superior Court filing, Brindle reiterated claims he made in a March lawsuit against Murphy and three top aides: that Brindle had been the subject of a months-long effort to force his resignation or compel independent ELEC commissioners to fire him, because the Murphy aides said he sent an insensitive email on National Coming Out Day.

Targeting dark money

Brindle alleges he is being targeted for being outspoken against dark money — political spending that pays for campaign messaging without the public knowing who provided the funds.

After Brindle refused to step down, the governor’s administration continued to try to oust him by contacting ELEC commissioners, seeking an investigation by the Attorney General’s Office and amending a proposed overhaul of campaign finance laws to give the governor more power over Brindle's position and ELEC commissioners, the lawsuits allege.

"This new law destroys the independence of the only agency in New Jersey that keeps candidates honest," said Bruce Afran, Brindle's attorney.

The governor's office declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.

The Elections Transparency Act, which Murphy signed into law April 3, "interferes with, prevents and prejudices the independent work of ELEC" and Brindle, the lawsuit alleges. It says the Legislature "lacks legislative power and jurisdiction" to terminate existing ELEC investigations.

The move to slash the window of time ELEC is given to look into violations effectively killed four current investigations into allegations of campaign finance law violations from 2017 against Democratic and Republican leadership committees. It gives the six investigators less time on a clock that can also get used up if a politician under investigation stalls, fails to cooperate or appeals to the administrative courts.

Scutari campaign records

A report from NorthJersey.com found that Senate President Nicholas Scutari's campaigns failed to properly disclose basic details of close to $600,000 in campaign spending — out of a total $1.8 million his campaigns spent over the past 15 years. For nearly 1,000 entries, Scutari recorded expenses as “reimbursements” to himself or certain staff, failing to disclose the vendors or businesses the campaign had compensated. If someone wanted to file a complaint to look into his reports, under the newly signed bill investigators could consider only reports filed within the past two years.

"It's what we call illegal special legislation, designed to target only one agency for special treatment, which is banned under the New Jersey Constitution," Afran said. "In this case, it's ELEC; no other agency is being subjected to a loss of its commissioners or approval by the Senate."

"What's more, the Legislature gave up its power to ELEC when it made it an independent entity, totally free of all other influence by any other state agency or the Legislature, and in doing that, it did so specifically so that campaign enforcement would not be subject to political interference," Afran said.

"Having given up that power, it can't reach back and say, 'Now that we don't like how ELEC uses it, we're going to cancel it.'" he said. "It can't do it for cases the ELEC has already lawfully filed."

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Politico has reported that Brindle was called into a meeting in November with Murphy’s chief of staff George Helmy, chief counsel Parimal Garg and chief ethics officer Dominic Rota, where they presented Brindle with a written resignation letter on the governor’s letterhead, accusing him of having made an anti-gay comment.

The meeting stemmed from an ELEC staffer’s email advertising National Coming Out Day. Brindle replied to the staffer, “Are you coming out? No Lincoln or Washington’s Birthday’s [sic] but we can celebrate national coming out day.”

'Political blunt force'

ELEC's three commissioners declined to discipline Brindle in a March hearing after considering charges of homophobia, racism, insubordination related to masking, and failure to cooperate, without allowing for public input despite previously confirming that interested parties could weigh in.

Two days later — and hours after the Legislature passed the Elections Transparency Act — the commissioners resigned in protest over the law.

“Because you have used political blunt force to neuter and co-opt this venerable and honorable agency, I can no longer faithfully serve the purposes the legislature originally intended," ELEC Chairman Eric Jaso wrote in a resignation letter.

Murphy has not yet filled the commissioner positions.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ election watchdog chief sues Murphy over campaign finance law