A just released Emerson poll shows Mikie Sherrill garnering support from 10 percent of voters.

That may not sound like much, but it puts her in the lead in the six-person race for this year’s Democratic gubernatorial nomination. As such, she’s now being attacked by another candidate.

Steve Fulop, the Jersey City mayor, announced Thursday that his campaign has filed a complaint with the state’s Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC).

He claims Sherrill is improperly using funds raised by her congressional campaign committee to support her gubernatorial run. A larger point is that those allegedly improper funds are then matched by public funding.

“New Jersey’s matching funds system is designed to give everyday residents a voice, not to be exploited by candidates working with political bosses behind the scenes,” Fulop said in a release.  “We aren’t looking to score political points here with this action, but what Mikie Sherrill is doing is just plain wrong and residents deserve a fair election.”

Fulop’s complaint made no specific allegations.

The Sherrill campaign quickly fired back. It said:

“This is a fabricated charge from an obviously desperate and corrupt career politician with a long track record of steering city contracts to his campaign contributors. His attempt to reinvent himself as a reformer is as laughable as it is insulting to voters.”
Gee, the campaign is getting fun already.

More seriously, election lawyer Scott Salmon says on behalf of the Fulop campaign:

“New Jersey deserves a fair election in which all candidates abide by the same rules. When someone attempts to circumvent our state’s campaign finance laws it undermines public trust and threatens the integrity of our elections. Applying to gain taxpayer dollars from matching funds and then using your congressional account to offset campaign expenses is ethically wrong and something that ELEC has clearly stated is not permitted.  We urge ELEC to hold Mikie Sherrill accountable.”

This is a technical issue, but a lot of the law revolves around technical issues.

In what is more of a political statement, the Fulop campaign brought up Eric Adams, the indicted New York City Mayor, to buttress its point about the alleged misuse of campaign money.

Just for the record, the poll puts Fulop at 4 percent.