Fulop Goes after Frontrunner Sherrill
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.
Her resume is impressive. Perfect for a Washington DC Insider. The problem is that New Jersey does not need a Beltway person with national security bonafide's for Governor . It needs a " nuts and bolts" person who knows state budget issues and knows how to get things done in Trenton in a fiscally responsible manner. Mikie Sherrill is not that person. She might learn how to deal with real budget issues eventually but the State can't afford to have an fiscal apprentice on the job. The State is heading towards a fiscal cliff. The STAYNJ program must be funded for seniors and property taxes must be addressed. Sherrill is a Washington Politician who knows only the " Washington Way" which never considers fiscal responsibility. Resumes are pretty documents but they do not win elections. The Democratic Party might be walking into the " shiny object " resume trap that will put a Republican in the State House. Sherrill is good in Washington .... She should stay there !
We don't need ANYMORE Democrat leadership that defends progressive values in New Jersey. Progressive Democrats have destroyed this state with ever increasing excessive property, sales and income taxes, high cost of living, excessive regulations, making NJ a sanctuary state for ILLEGAL ALIEN PARASITES who offer nothing to the state other than trouble, disease and crime. It costs NJ over $5 BILLION/YEAR to support these criminal parasites when they only pay back $150 MILLION/YEAR in taxes. The $5 BILL./Yr. is enough to give every senior $10,000/YEAR in property tax relief under the STAYNJ Act. And, now Governor KNUCKLEHEAD will turn New Jersey's once vaunted education system into a 3rd world country education system when he signed a law allowing non-certified, non-degreed people to become teachers. NJ taxpayers should be up in arms over this, since most of property taxes are education taxes based on a supposed top-tier school system in the nation. If they start hiring ignoramuses for teachers, NJ residents should start demanding significant education tax cuts in their districts. No. We don't need anymore stinking Progressive Democrats (buzzword for Marxist-Communists) running New Jersey--into the ground--like they do in California.
Fulop’s power politics is falling flat. Sherrill’s got the right stuff.
New Jersey needs a change. We need Democratic leadership that defends our progressive values, but also recognizes that most of us are frustrated by the high cost of living and the incompetence of the Murphy administration. Steve Fulop is focusing on process issues, he's accusing his opponents of making deals. The focus of the Democratic nominee and the next governor should be lowering property taxes, improving infrastructure, and protecting the Affordable Care Act. Mikie Sherrill and Josh Gottheimer are focused on issues New Jerseyians care about. Rhode Island Homeowner Steve Fulop is making insider baseball the focus of his campaign it seems.
And for the record, this "ELEC Complaint" cited exactly ZERO "specific examples of violations" A flailing campaign that will say and do anything for a crumb of media attention.