To the editor:
Labor Day means “a call to action,” a time to act for the midterms and get out the vote.
And, time for New Jersey to protect our elections from corruption.
But can New Jersey protect its citizens from “dark money” now that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has capitulated to the Koch brothers or from election hacking and meddling by the Russians?
We know what happened in Helsinki back in July when President Donald Trump waffled to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Most may not know the IRS won’t require “dark money” nonprofits to report their donors any longer.
The Star-Ledger’s editorial after Helsinki (“Trump Helps Keep Dark-Money Political Contributions Hidden”) made that connection clear and called on New Jersey to act: “Bills stuck in the New Jersey Legislature would require these nonprofits to disclose their donors if they run political ads in our state. It’s even more important to pass this reform now, since under Trump, shady groups will no longer have to share their donors’ names with the federal government.”
Two bills stuck in committee, S-1500, by sponsored by Sen. Troy Singleton (D-Burlington), and A-1524, by Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker (D-Somerset), would achieve this result. Both bills require disclosure and transparency of funds raised by independent committees and issue advocacy organizations.
We need to get these bills out of the committees chaired by Sen. James Beach (D-Camden) and Assemblyman Vincent Mazzeo (D-Atlantic). Call them today and demand these bills get up for a full vote: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/legsearch.asp
David M. Goodman
Represent.Us/Central New Jersey
