Jack Ciattarelli, left, and Bill Spadea are both seeking the GOP nod for governor this year. (Photos by Amanda Brown, Hal Brown, and Dana DiFilippo)
Attorneys for gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli called on New Jersey’s campaign finance watchdog to withhold matching funds from rival Bill Spadea, arguing that Spadea’s campaign has improperly reaped benefits from his morning radio show.
The complaint filed Tuesday revives protests made months ago by Ciattarelli and another gubernatorial hopeful, Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Union), that claimed Spadea’s daily presence on New Jersey 101.5 amounted to in-kind contributions from the station’s owner worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in violation of contribution limits and other rules on New Jersey’s gubernatorial public financing program.
“Their intentional circumvention of the contribution limits and their actions in light of the Commission’s admonitions earlier this year should preclude Spadea, who is due to host his final radio show Thursday, from receiving matching funds,” Ciattarelli’s campaign said in Tuesday’s filing.
The filing says Townsquare Media, which owns the radio station, has provided Spadea with a platform to boost his name recognition, advance his campaign, curry favor with party officials and donors, and launch attacks against his opponents.
The filing claims New Jersey 101.5 deleted content by Spadea that could have been used to attack him and that Spadea used his radio show, podcast, and their social media pages to attack gubernatorial opponents with the company’s full knowledge.
Spadea’s campaign called the complaint an effort, driven by fear, to waylay the radio host’s candidacy.
“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,” said Tom Bonfonti, Spadea’s campaign manager. “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.”
Ciattarelli and Spadea are among about a half-dozen Republicans running in June’s primary for their party’s nod to succeed Gov. Phil Murphy next year. Bramnick and former state Sen. Ed Durr are also candidates.
Ciattarelli’s campaign said the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission should bar Spadea from receiving matching funds under the state’s gubernatorial public financing program — which offers a 2-to-1 match on donations to eligible candidates in exchange for capping the funds they can raise and spend — and impose “significant fines” on the company.
Some of the Ciattarelli complaint centers around a disclaimer Townsquare Media runs in advance of Spadea’s show — which says Townsquare and the station do not endorse or support Spadea’s bid — that the station’s owners have previously said is an attempt to distance itself from Spadea’s campaign. Ciattarelli’s filing notes the disclaimer mentions Spadea’s candidacy four times, and is meant to spread knowledge of his candidacy and boost name recognition.
The disclaimer was unnecessary, Ciattarelli’s attorneys said, because Spadea could have simply remained on air without mentioning his candidacy or advocating for his election on air.
“However, simply ignoring Spadea’s candidacy did not further the interests of Spadea, his campaign or Townsquare,” the complaint says.
Though the election commission last year declined to impose sanctions on Spadea’s campaign or require him to step back from the radio show, Commissioner Ryan Peters said at the time the disclaimer “sounds like a promotion” of the radio host’s campaign.
Spadea’s campaign denied breaching any campaign finance rules.
“Bill has fully complied with the law and this is the second time Jack’s tried lawfare in front of ELEC. Jack and his campaign are scared,” Bonfonti said. “They should be.”
Tueday’s complaint notes the same 53 second-long disclaimer appeared before episodes of Spadea’s podcast, Common Ground, on YouTube. Those videos also show still images of Spadea at events hosted by Common Sense New Jersey, a nonprofit with a political arm founded by Spadea.
Spadea, Ciattarelli’s campaign argued, has used that podcast — also funded by Townsquare — to court support from Republican officials. It hosted some who later endorsed Spadea’s campaign.
“His podcast’s focus on these individuals is no coincidence. It is part of a concerted effort to use Townsquare’s resources to benefit Spadea’s campaign. Any other candidate would be forced to spend valuable campaign resources to seek the support of these individuals and attend their events,” the complaint said.
The complaint alleges further action by Townsquare to boost Spadea’s candidacy. After Kitchen Table Conservatives — an independent expenditure group with ties to Ciattarelli — launched ads highlighting Spadea’s past criticism of Trump, Townsquare Media reposted and publicized a months-old interview Spadea conducted with President Donald Trump, then a candidate.
The station later posted a more than four-year-old clip in response to similar criticism, and it republished a column by Spadea that included attacks against Ciattarelli and Bramnick after opponents circulated clips from 2018 showing Spadea backing amnesty for undocumented immigrants.
Ciattarelli’s campaign called on the commission to withhold matching funds from Spadea until it could determine the value of coordinated expenditures, or in-kind contributions, it alleges Townsquare has made to the radio host’s gubernatorial bid.
To be considered a coordinated expenditure, communications must include a direct appeal for election or be heard by an audience substantially composed of eligible voters, contain political objectives or achievements, and include some form of cooperation or consent by the candidate.
Absent a direct appeal for election, the communications are also subject to a time bar. In the case of gubernatorial candidates, that clock started ticking on Jan. 1. Ciattarelli’s campaign said it had been quoted a rate of $500 per minute for airtime on New Jersey 101.5
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