Two Democratic gubernatorial candidates are sparring over spending.
Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop’s campaign on Sunday alleged in a letter to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission that Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-11) improperly used funds from her congressional campaign account to pay for various expenditures intended to boost her gubernatorial candidacy.
“This is the exact thing that makes voters cynical about NJ politicians, and the deceit is an action synonymous with the NJ political machine,” Fulop said in a statement.
Fulop and Sherrill are among six Democrats vying for their party’s nomination for governor in June. Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, is barred from seeking a third term in November.
In Sunday’s letter, the Fulop campaign charged Sherrill used her congressional account to fund digital ads seen by voters outside of her district, Christmas cards that went out to supporters across the state, and a November event at the New Jersey League of Municipalities’ annual conference in Atlantic City. Sherill was first elected to Congress in 2018 and was reelected to a fourth term in November.
Fulop’s campaign has asked the commission to launch a full audit of Sherrill’s gubernatorial campaign account and count the cited expenditures against the matching funds she can receive from the state’s gubernatorial public financing program. Fulop notes the commission, in a 2023 advisory opinion, said candidates for governor could not receive unlimited contributions from their congressional campaign accounts.
At least one of Fulop’s charges appears to have missed its mark. A quarterly campaign finance report filed with state election officials earlier this month shows Sherrill’s gubernatorial campaign reimbursed a campaign staffer $27,194 for the Atlantic City event. Though the event was initially booked by Sherrill’s congressional campaign, it was later booked to her gubernatorial campaign, according to order forms reviewed by the New Jersey Monitor.
“Steven Fulop’s new allegations at best demonstrate a lack of understanding of the law. And at worst, try to make a mockery of campaign-finance laws in a blatant attempt to mislead voters,” said Sherrill campaign manager Alex Ball.
In New Jersey, candidates for governor can qualify for public matching funds in exchange for agreeing to contribution and spending limits set by the Election Law Enforcement Commission. Fulop and Sherrill have both qualified for matching funds.
Fulop’s complaint alleges Sherrill ran digital ads to a statewide audience in the closing weeks of last year’s general election to build name recognition outside of New Jersey’s 11th District, which is largely made up of towns in Essex and Morris counties. The Fulop’s campaign letter says this shows “Sherrill’s clear intention to use congressional funds for gubernatorial purposes.”
Ads seen on Google, which owns YouTube, and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, can be geotargeted by congressional district, though candidates often run them in broader areas, particularly if an advertisement campaign is meant to raise funds.
State election law officials could find that ads launched by a congressional campaign to boost a gubernatorial candidate’s name recognition should be counted as coordinated expenditures that count against gubernatorial fundraising limits, though the timing and content of the advertisements, which ran no later than Election Day last year, is key.
To be considered coordinated expenditures — a type of in-kind contribution — communications must include a direct appeal for election or be heard by an audience substantially composed of eligible voters, contain political objectives or achievements, and include some form of cooperation or consent by the candidate.
If there’s no direct appeal for election to the state office, the communications are subject to a time bar. For most candidates, that clock starts ticking 90 days before an election, but for gubernatorial candidates, it becomes effective on Jan. 1 of the year of the gubernatorial election. All of the spending targeted by Fulop’s complaint occurred last year.
Fulop’s complaint is not the first the Election Law Enforcement Commission has received over this year’s race. In June, the commission declined to require Bill Spadea, who is seeking the Republican gubernatorial nod, to resign from the radio show he hosts on New Jersey 101.5. His opponents charged the show amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars in in-kind contributions from the station’s owners to Spadea’s candidacy.
If the commission were to rule differently in Sherrill’s case, the spending could be counted against her gubernatorial limits. The commission could deny her matching funds outright if it finds the ads and Christmas cards were a coordinated expenditure whose combined value exceeded the $4,900 cap on contributions.
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