The members of New Jersey’s Election Law Enforcement Commission voted unanimously on Tuesday to get involved in a lawsuit over “dark money” campaign spending. The case, brought by the New Jersey Republican State Committee against a little-known organization called Jersey Freedom, alleges that Jersey Freedom violated campaign finance laws and ran phantom candidates in South Jersey on conservative-sounding lines in an effort to siphon votes from Republican candidates who were legitimately running for office.
The commission will join the lawsuit as an amicus party, offering experience and knowledge without advocating for a particular side. ELEC’s decision to join the case drew support from groups across the political spectrum who advocate for more transparency in election spending.
“More shadowy, dark money groups are going to pop up in future elections, and they will take it as a signal to engage in these type of tactics moving forward, if actions are not being taken,” said Antoinette Miles, the interim state director for the New Jersey Working Families Party.
“Millions of voters went to the ballots to determine control of our New Jersey legislature in November. And we firmly believe and saw that Jersey Freedom’s actions last year made a mockery of our election laws and threaten to weaken our democracy,” Miles said.
Jersey Freedom spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in state races this year, before a judge froze its spending in early November.
