Media Release
| For Immediate Release | Contact | Phone |
| August 7, 2008 | Phyllis Salowe-Kaye | 973-643-8800 |
| Ev Liebman | 856-966-3091 |
Flawed Research and Phony Findings: Desperate Effort by D.C.-Based Right-Wingers to Kill Election Reform in New Jersey
State's Largest Citizen Watchdog Blasts Former Republican Regulator's Efforts to Stop Progress of New Jersey's Bi-Partisan Work to Implement Clean Elections
Statement of Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, Executive Director
Trenton, NJ — A report just released by the Center for Competitive Politics (CCP) to kill NJ's bi-partisan efforts to implement fundamental campaign finance reform is the work of former Republican operatives and a notoriously anti-reform and former Federal Election Commission Commissioner, Bradley Smith.
The group's latest attempt to torpedo NJ's efforts to expand and improve NJ's successful Clean Elections pilot program is one more example of this outside organization's mission to attack public financing of elections in whatever venue they can find. Their so-called analysis of NJ's 2007 Clean Elections Pilot Program is woefully short on facts, based on incomplete data and chocked full of misleading and incorrect statements.
The CCP is part of the problem, not the solution to changing the way we do politics in New Jersey. The last thing New Jersey needs is right wing anti-reformers dedicated to maintaining business as usual for lobbyists and special interests.
Last Fall, the Rutgers Eagleton Institute of Politics and Fairleigh Dickenson's Public Mind Poll conducted an academically rigorous study of NJ's Clean Election's Pilot Project, "Public Attitudes Toward the Clean Elections Initiative," finding that voters in NJ's Clean Elections districts had higher levels of political awareness and information and, more than voters in traditionally financed districts, felt that issues, rather than personalities were the focus of those campaigns. The 2007 pilot also demonstrated a positive impact on voter turnout. For example, voter turnout statewide in 2007 was approximately 30%, the lowest in NJ history. However, in the 14th Clean Elections district turnout was 40.5%.
New Jersey needs Clean Elections now more than ever. We commend Speaker Roberts, Assemblyman Greenwald and members of the bi-partisan legislative committee who are committed to moving New Jersey's Clean Elections Project forward for 2009. Citizen Action looks forward to working with the Speaker, this Committee and advocates around the state who are working to find positive solutions to cleaning up New Jersey's politics
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New Jersey Citizen Action is the state's largest citizen watchdog coalition with 60,000 family members across the state and more than 110 affiliated labor, tenant, faith based senior and community organizations. NJCA is also a founding member of the New Jersey Coalition for Clean Elections, a statewide coalition of 20 diverse organizations dedicated to reducing the corrupting influence of money in politics by establishing a permanent, state-wide system of full public campaign financing.