Ciattarelli accuses Spadea of running ‘shadow campaign’ through radio show

Updated: 6:06 p.m.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli filed a campaign finance complaint against radio host Bill Spadea, accusing his opponent of creating an illegal “shadow campaign” with the media company that hosted the radio show.

Spadea is the longtime morning radio personality at NJ 101.5, a subsidiary of Townsquare Media and the state’s largest radio station. The 19-page complaint accuses the media company of promoting Spadea’s campaign through the radio, social media, and public events—the complaint argues the advantage is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and violates campaign finance law.

The Ciattarelli campaign says Townsquare Media removed media that could be used to attack Spadea, pushed pieces aligned with Spadea’s campaign messaging, and allowed the candidate to use its platform to promote his campaign without having to use campaign money.

“Spadea engaged in a brazen and illegal scheme to set up a shadow campaign funded and managed by his employer, Townsquare Media, that promoted Spadea’s candidacy for governor on a daily basis; organized and paid for campaign-style events meant to curry favor with influential Republicans; and created and promoted content favorable to Spadea on Townsquare’s online and social media channels, while altering and deleting unfavorable content, and attacking his opponents,” Ciattarelli strategist Chris Russell said in a release.

The Ciattarelli campaign asked ELEC to deny Spadea access to matching public funds and to foist “significant” fines upon Townsquare Media.

The Spadea campaign hit back at Ciattarelli in a statement, calling the accusations a baseless maneuver to boost Ciattarelli’s campaign.

“Just like the Biden-Harris swamp tried to take down President Trump with lawfare, the flailing Ciattarelli campaign is yet again attempting to do the same thing to Bill Spadea,” Tom Bonfonti, Spadea’s campaign manager, said in a statement. “Jack has been running for Governor for nearly a decade and yet he is only at 26% against a first-time candidate for statewide office.”

Bonfonti said Spadea has complied with election law throughout his campaign.

“Bill has fully complied with the law and this is the second time Jack’s tried lawfare in front of ELEC,” Bonfonti said in a statement. “Jack and his campaign are scared … and they should be. He has already lost twice for Governor and the third loss is on the horizon.”

Ciattarelli and Spadea are two of several Republicans seeking the GOP nomination for governor. They join state Sen. Jon Bramnick and former state Sen. Ed Durr as Republicans looking to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy.

Politico reported earlier this month that Spadea will leave his radio show at the end of January.

Spadea’s drive-time show garnered controversy in June. An attorney representing Townsquare told ELEC at the time that the radio show constituted no value to Spadea’s campaign because the show lacked “expressed advocacy” for his candidacy. Townsquare has played a disclaimer before Spadea’s show each day telling listeners the company does not endorse Spadea or any other candidate.

ELEC commissioners in June allowed the show to continue but warned it could be subject to a later investigation.

Ciattarelli’s complaint accuses the company of backtracking on its neutrality promises. The complaint argues even the disclaimer “serves no legitimate purpose other than to make the public aware” of Spadea’s candidacy. They argue the disclaimer simply improves the radio host’s name ID among voters.

“Other candidates must expend vast sums of valuable campaign dollars to increase their name ID and remind voters they are a candidate for Governor,” the complaint reads. “Not Spadea. Townsquare did that for him by using valuable airtime multiple times a day to remind listeners/voters that Spadea is not just a radio jockey or podcast host, but he is a candidate for Governor as well.”

The complaint says NJ 101.5 airspace is sold for $500 per minute—they argue each 53-second disclaimer should be considered an in-kind contribution used to boost Spadea’s name ID.

The filing also criticized Spadea’s podcast with Townsquare, called Common Ground with Bill Spadea. The complaint argues the podcast shares a similar name and logo to Spadea-founded political groups like the Common Sense Club.

“It certainly appears that Townsquare went out of its way to align its sponsored podcast with the various ‘independent expenditure’ entities supporting Spadea’s campaign,” the filing reads.

The Ciattarelli campaign argues that Townsquare funds events for the podcast, which often feature Republican officials, and uses the Townsquare-funded events to “curry favor” and earn endorsements.

“Any other candidate would be forced to spend valuable campaign resources to seek the support of these individuals and attend their events,” the complaint says. “Spadea, however, is doing it all on Townsquare’s dime by promoting these individuals in exchange for support for his candidacy.”

The complaint alleges that after Spadea faced attacks over alleged disloyalty to President Donald Trump, NJ 101.5 republished a months-old interview Spadea held with then-candidate Trump. In that interview, Trump criticized Ciattarelli’s 2021 gubernatorial campaign.

“Neutral does not include reposting and pinning outdated videos/interviews with rewritten headers in response to attack ads aimed at Spadea,” the complaint reads.

Spadea and Ciattarelli are both seeking the votes of Trump-supporting New Jerseyans and have painted each other as disloyal to the president throughout the campaign.

The filing also accuses NJ 101.5 of hiding and deleting references to Spadea’s 2023 interview with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. The complaint says Spadea praised Christie’s presidential run against Trump during the interview.

“Much like Colonel Jessup did with the infamous flight in ‘A Few Good Men,’ Townsquare simply made Spadea’s praise for Christie’s presidential campaign against President Trump disappear. It appears that neither Spadea nor Townsquare can handle the truth,” the filing states.

The Ciattarelli campaign sent the complaint to the NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission on Tuesday.

“Every candidate running for governor in New Jersey—both Democratic and Republican—has to raise and spend their own money to do all of the things that Townsquare Media has done for Bill Spadea in the past 6 months,” Russell said in a release. “Townsquare’s in-kind contribution to the Spadea campaign is easily into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more.”

This article was updated to include a statement from the Spadea campaign.