By Paul Koepp, Staff Writer
As the legislative campaigns wind down in the 14th District, a pilot public funding program designed to keep special interests out of politics is starting to show some cracks.
All six major-party candidates in the district — which includes South Brunswick, Cranbury, Jamesburg and Monroe — qualified under the Fair and Clean Elections program, as did one Libertarian contender.
Now the Libertarian, West Windsor resident Jason Scheurer, is suing for equal treatment as a clean elections candidate. In addition, Democratic Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein is seeking extra “rescue money” for her re-election bid after being attacked in an ad campaign by an outside group.
The candidates had to collect 400 $10 contributions from district residents to qualify under the program, and 800 to earn the maximum amount of public funds. However, the maximum is $526,375 for the 14th District Republicans and Democrats, who all reached that mark, while the top amount for independent candidates is just $42,000.
Mr. Scheurer received $23,521 for collecting 472 contributions. Had he been a major-party candidate, he would have received over $132,000.
”FACE and its regulations contain absolutely no justification for this disparity in initial grants,” the lawsuit states. “For independents participating in FACE, the disadvantages are enormous.”
In a flier highlighting the differences, Mr. Scheurer said, “Rather than conduct this election on a level playing field where all views would be heard equally, the two party monopoly is afraid of some old fashioned competition.”
Ms. Greenstein and Republican Senate candidate Assemblyman Bill Baroni, of Hamilton, were both involved in crafting the law that set up the pilot program.
The lawsuit, filed in state Superior Court in Middlesex County, asks the court to declare sections of the clean elections program unconstitutional. It also seeks to have a 250-word statement by Mr. Scheurer added to the ballot. The other candidates were allowed to submit a statement and have the slogan “Clean Elections Candidate” by their names on the ballot because they qualified by Aug.17.
Meanwhile, Ms. Greenstein also is seeking relief from what she sees as unfair treatment.
According to her campaign manager, Elizabeth Meyers, a conservative group based in Princeton has conducted a telephone campaign and bought $125,000 in radio ads with 101.5 FM in an effort to distort Ms. Greenstein’s record on property taxes, asset monetization and gay marriage, among other issues.
The clean elections program allows each major-party candidate up to $100,000 in “rescue money” to combat spending by such outside groups, and up to $50,000 for independents.
Ms. Meyers estimated the total cost of the campaign by the group, Common Sense America, to be over $150,000. She said Ms. Greenstein would seek the maximum $100,000 in rescue funds.
Ms. Meyers announced late Wednesday afternoon that the state Election Law Enforcement Commission, which oversees the clean elections program, had rendered a decision in Ms. Greenstein’s favor, although she did not say how much money had been awarded.
ELEC official Amy Davis would not confirm that a decision had been made, saying that updates are posted on the commission’s Web site, www.elec.state.nj.us, every Wednesday. She said a decision on any disbursed funds would be posted Oct. 24.
Ms. Meyers compared the Common Sense America ad campaign to “the Swift Boat ads of 2004.”
”It is an unprecedented independent expenditure that has never been seen in a New Jersey legislative campaign, and it is even more outrageous since we are the first competitive district participating in the clean elections program,” she said in a press release.
Frederick Herrmann, the executive director of the state ELEC, said Monday that to qualify for rescue money, a campaign must show the cost of the independent expenditures and how they benefited an opponent.
The chairman of Common Sense America, Brian Brown, did not respond to requests for comment. He also is the executive director of the National Organization for Marriage, a group opposed to gay marriage.
