A three-way connection between GOP gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli, a super PAC supporting him, and a grassroots conservative group could raise red flags at the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission when it’s time to apply for public financing next year.
The super PAC Kitchen Table Conservatives, allied with Ciattarelli, contributed $10,000 to America First Republicans of New Jersey, apparently unaware that the group was another name for the Montclair Republican County Committee.
The potential tocsin is a common link: Alexa Ciattarelli, 29, is a paid employee of her father’s gubernatorial campaign and also the vendor for the America First group, campaign filings show.
Alexa Ciattarelli spent two years running digital ad operations for Go BIG Media, a political consulting firm that worked for her father’s campaign in 2021 and is already working for the 2025 race. She left the company earlier this year, but also operates Jersey Ad Co. out of her Somerville residence.
According to Facebook’s political ad library, she manages the America First Republicans Facebook page and is the person authorized to place paid advertising on the social media platform.
Earlier this year, Montclair GOP Municipal Chairman Michael Byrne filed with the Federal Election Commission as a local political committee doing business as American First Republicans of New Jersey. The entity has raised $20,705 – nearly half from Kitchen Table Conservatives – and has paid $4,000 to Pilgrim Strategies, a political consulting firm operated by Byrne — and an arguably de minimis $850 to Alexa Ciattarelli’s company.
As a 527 political group, Kitchen Table Conservatives aren’t permitted to contribute to political party committees. Upon learning that the recipient of their $10,000 check was the Montclair Republicans, not America First Republicans of NJ, they requested that the money be returned.
In the meantime, the money is being spent this cycle. That effectively leaves the super PAC as the Montclair GOP’s banker awaiting repayment of a loan. And until the money is returned, Alexa Ciattarelli is technically the beneficiary of monies passed through from a super PAC supporting her father.
And while the Montclair Republicans filed as a federal committee, they still haven’t filed their quarterly report as a local party organization with ELEC.
It will be up to ELEC to determine if Alexa Ciattarelli’s dual role as her father’s campaign staffer and as a consultant being paid by a group funded by a super PACs money constitutes coordination between the two – a big no-no in a campaign where tax dollars are used to match campaign contributions. It’s not necessarily improper as much as it is messy.
Another potential concern for Ciattarelli is the reaction of some party leaders over his connection to America First Republicans. In April, they pledged to file a legal challenge to end Republican county organization lines, and their attorney was part of a lawsuit to toss the line in Burlington for this year’s primary election.
In June, Gary Rich, a former Monmouth County freeholder who is part of the America First local group, briefly challenged incumbent Shaun Golden for county chairman.