The state’s top campaign finance watchdog is suing the Murphy administration for the second time this year. Jeffrey Brindle, the executive director of New Jersey’s Election Law Enforcement Commission filed a suit Thursday in Trenton’s Superior Court, alleging the newly signed Election Transparency Act is illegal and unconstitutional. The controversial new law allows Gov. Phil Murphy to directly appoint the agency’s commissioners, without the advice and consent of the state Senate.
The lawsuit seeks to block the governor from making those appointments and from cutting the amount of time the commission has to investigate campaign finance violations from 10 years to two years after the violation was committed. That shorter investigation period would kill most of the agency’s current caseload, including four investigations for potential violations by Democratic and Republican leadership committees. Brindle previously filed a lawsuit against the governor, alleging he was being targeted for speaking out against so-called dark money in election campaigns.
