'More money, less disclosure': N.J.'s new elections law fails a key test

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

51% : In an unattributed statement released last month, Jersey Freedom said it complied with the Elections Transparency Act and pointed out "there are no 48-hour notices required to be filed by independent expenditure committees in the law."
49% : A little-noticed amendment in the law allowed outside groups to legally bankroll so-called phantom candidates -- whose main purpose is to siphon off votes from "legitimate candidates," according to a lawsuit -- without disclosing their donors' identities before Election Day.
49% : "Joe Donohue, who leads the state's election watchdog agency, said the law in some ways did increase transparency.
46% : He asked the agency and "whatever law enforcement resources from the state are required" to investigate and prosecute any potential crimes.Brighter Future Forward and its attorney Bill Tambussi, who also represents Jersey Freedom, did not return calls.
45% : Henal Patel, law and policy director for the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, said the law was the product of behind-the-scenes wrangling between the governor and Legislature and did not benefit the public.
44% : The opaque campaign finance activity wasn't limited to state elections -- or Democrats.
42% : Donohue, the acting executive director of the Election Law Enforcement Commission, said that while the law had some positives on transparency, the special exemption for independent expenditure groups is "frustrating.""The whole thing was trying to put everybody on an even playing field.
40% : He said he would consider tweaking the law yet again but that the bigger problem was in groups not complying with it.
40% : "Everything I've seen indicates they did not follow the law in place for the 2023 election," Polistina said.
36% : Opponents of the law fear it will further shroud the source of political spending and breed more public distrust in a system still reeling from controversial federal campaign finance rulings.
35% : Scutari did not respond to questions about the law, and a spokesperson for Gov. Phil Murphy -- who quietly signed the bill in April, declined to comment.
33% : The lawsuit alleges Jersey Freedom was supposed to file with ELEC before it started spending money, not after, "an obvious violation of the law.

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