ELEC slaps fines on late filers

Jason Todd Mushnick, a Jersey City attorney who ran for State Assembly in the 31st district in 2019, has paid a $275 fine to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission for failing to file a report for the Republican primary.

Mushnick told the commission that he spent no money to win the GOP nomination.  He was unopposed in that race.

He lost the general election a margin of more than 4-1 against incumbents Nicholas Chiaravalloti (D-Bayonne) and Angela McKnight (D-Jersey City).

Republicans have not won the Bayonne/Jersey City district since it was originally drawn in 1973 – the GOP picked up Assembly seats for two years in the 32nd and 33rd districts in the 1985 Tom Kean landslide – and Bayonne has not been represented by a Republican in the State Assembly since 1921.

Mushnick challenged Rep. Albio Sires (D-West New York) in 2020 and won 24.6% of the vote.

Hope Kaufman, a Democrat who is challenging Assemblymen Erik Peterson (R-Franklin) and John DiMaio (R-Hackettstown) in the 23rd district, paid a $275 fine after admitting that she never filed a report for her 2019 bid Tewksbury Township Committee.

In addition to Mushnick and Kaufman, 16 municipal candidates faced enforcement action by the commission.

Orange Councilwoman Jamie Summers-Johnson paid a $475 fine for late filing of her 2018 campaign report.   Lakewood Township Committeeman Albert Akerman paid a total of $775 for two violations, including late filing of a 2019 primary election report.