Democrats are off to an aggressive start on behalf of Gov. Phil Murphy in the brand new general election scrap for New Jersey governor.
The opening salvos this past week included actions against one expected target, Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli, and another with likely no chance to beat Murphy, Edward Forchion, a marijuana legalization advocate known as “NJ Weedman.”
It all comes as Murphy begins his re-election campaign with a 26-point lead over Ciattarelli, according to a Rutgers-Eagleton Poll released just before the June 8 primary.
First, the challenge to NJ Weedman:
Forchion filed to run as an independent in the Nov. 2 race for governor, but his plans changed after the Democratic State Committee filed a challenge in court questioning whether his nominating petitions were valid.
During a Zoom hearing on the matter Tuesday, Forchion announced he was dropping his bid and would run a write-in campaign instead.
“I can’t compete with the power of the Democratic Party,” the 56-year-old Pemberton resident told the judge. “I’m about to smoke some weed.”
Murphy campaigned in 2017 to make marijuana legal in New Jersey. Efforts to pass a law doing so failed a few times in the state Legislature, but state voters approved legal weed this past November.
Forchion has been critical of how Murphy has handled pot, saying his policies on the issue haven’t gone far enough, especially when it comes to helping people of color.
He filed his petition with 836 signatures under the Legalize Marihuana Party and the slogan “#HOMEGROW $ALL.” You need 800 signatures to make the ballot.
Forchion previously ran for governor in 2005, scoring 9,136 votes — only 0.4% of the vote — in a race won by Democrat Jon Corzine.
Three third-party candidates have also filed to run: Gregg Melee of the Libertarian Party, and Madelyn Hoffman of the Green Party, and Joanne Kuniansky of the Socialist Workers Party.
Next, the move against the Ciattarelli campaign:
The Democratic State Committee on Thursday filed a complaint with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, the state’s campaign finance watchdog, accusing the Republican nominee of violating campaign finance law by starting to raise money for the general election before the primary was over.
Ciattarelli’s campaign quickly denied the claim.
Democrats are asking ELEC to investigate the allegation and hold off giving public matching funds to Ciattarelli in the meantime — which would be a setback for the former state lawmaker.
ELEC declined to comment.
Under the commission’s rules, campaigns participating in New Jersey’s matching funds program — as both Ciattarelli and Murphy are — cannot use any primary campaign money to solicit general election donations and cannot seek any general election donations until the day after the primary.
In its complaint, the Democratic State Committee said Republicans began advertising a June 23 fundraising event for Ciattarelli in Little Falls as early as May 27, before the June 8 primary election. The ad asked for $2,500 contributions.
Democrats said donors who contributed to this event were charged a fee on the platform and those fees are expenditures. So are funds paid to the restaurant where the event is to be held, the complaint said.
“Jack Ciattarelli has been caught red-handed improperly trying to raise money for his campaign in violation of laws that protect the taxpayer-funded gubernatorial matching funds program,” said Saily Avelenda, the Democratic State Committee’s executive director.
Under state’s matching funds program, gubernatorial candidates qualify to receive $2 in public taxpayer money for every $1 they receive above a certain threshold and up to $10.5 million in the general election. ELEC announced this week Ciatarelli has already qualified for the general election.
Stami Williams, a spokeswoman for Ciattarelli’s campaign, said in a statement that the campaign received its first contributions for the Little Falls event on June 16 — “well after the primary and thus incurred no costs pre-primary.”
Such charges have been leveled in previous campaigns. Republicans said Democratic Gov. Jim Florio used primary money for a general election expense in 1993. The charges drew big headlines, and prompted a fine against the Florio campaign during a close race won by Republican Christie Whitman.
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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.
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N.J. Weedman and Ciattarelli targeted by Dems in aggressive start to governor’s race - NJ.com
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