The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission ruled today that One Giant Leap PAC, which is supporting Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) for the Democratic nomination for governor, qualifies as an independent expenditure committee and won’t need to register as a political committee or continuing political committee.
“The commission does not need to engage in a major purpose test and does not need to analyze the percentage of the group’s activity in New Jersey as an independent expenditure committee,” said Theresa Lelinski, ELEC’s legal director. “One Giant Leap would be required to report all contributions in excess of $7,500, unless a contributor specifies that the funds are not to be used in New Jersey elections.”
Responding to an advisory opinion from Jack Ciattarelli’s campaign for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, ELEC determined that expenses to send communications to Bill Spadea’s donors would count against Ciattarelli’s spending cap.
Lelinski said the request “does not qualify as an exception as a reasonable and necessary cost of compliance with the act.”
ELEC also determined that they would not distribute matching funds under the New Jersey Gubernatorial Public Financing Program based on percentages of past approvals, a question raised by veteran campaign treasurer Ron Gravino.
“At this time, we are not going to move forward with a percentage-based approach,” stated Lelinski. “Staff will continue to analyze each transactions, but presumably, additional submissions come in, the submissions will be sufficient that they will move quickly through the submissions.”
The campaign finance watchdog panel also approved complaints against Morris County Commissioner Tom Mastrangelo for failure to report contributions and expenditures connected to his 2023 primary challenge to State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Montville), and against the Somerset County Republican organization.
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