CALL to ACTION STOP PHONY "ELECTION TRANSPARENCY ACT" A4372 Vote was March 30
CALL to ACTION STOP PHONY "ELECTION TRANSPARENCY ACT" A4372 Vote was March 30 - YOU CAN STILL STOP THIS..STAY TUNED..
What's Happening: Final Assembly Vote
Since last June, the Governor and leading Democrats have been working on legislation to give the Governor control over the NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC), which oversees campaign contributions - A VERY BAD idea.
This bill is scheduled for a vote by the full NJ General Assembly on Thursday, March 30. We need YOUR HELP to Stop It Now.
The measure, A-4372 has gone through multiple committee hearings and has balooned from 37 pages to a current 68 pages. After the Assembly Appropriations Committee considered and amended the bill for the THIRD time (3/23/23) it was released 8-3 with Assemblyman Brandon Umba (R-8-Atlantic/Burlington/ Camden), a "Republican", voted to support it.
The identical S-2866 is receiving SCATHING reviews by even normally-liberal organizations, such as the League of Women Voters. ("...we think it's the worst of backroom politics...")
Why? It would give the governor control over the ELEC - a huge mistake. It would "allow more political donors to win public contracts (translation: more campaign contributions). It would replace strict local pay-to-play laws with the State's more lenient rules. It would allow the political parties to 'rake in way more cash'" - and it would cripple "501c(4)" watchdog organizations by forcing them to reveal the names and addresses of donors ... and ADD 501c(6) business associations to this list required to disclose names/addresses of donors at the very same time the Legislature just voted to HIDE their own addresses.
The bill also creates a new "housekeeping account" category to allow the political committees and campaigns to hide more money, dismisses the current 4-member ELEC Board, gives the governor appointment authority to replace the Board and establishes a $30,000/year salary for each member. Certainly, this makes the Board more independent!
The bill now limits campaign violations to a 2-year statute of limitations, which will eliminate many investigations that take longer than that to discover!