Murphy Sued By Top NJ Elections Watchdog

TRENTON — New Jersey’s top elections watchdog is suing Gov. Phil Murphy and three of his top aides, alleging they targeted him for making anti-gay comments and tried to force his resignation after he published a satirical column.

Jeffrey M. Brindle has been director of NJ’s Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) for 15 years. He claims the governor and three top staffers violated the New Jersey Civil Rights Act last fall by retaliating against him after he lampooned the state's political fundraising rules in an online column.

Brindle, who also served as deputy director for a decade, filed his civil lawsuit March 16 in Mercer County court against Murphy, his chief of staff George Helmy, chief counsel Parimal Garg, and chief ethics officer Dominic Rota.

He claims Murphy’s staff pressured ELEC commissioners to terminate him from his position after trying to force him from it by illegal coercion.

His lawsuit comes as lawmakers have proposed an overhaul of the state finance system, originally calling for the governor’s office to be in control of ELEC, with power to appoint the executive. This move would fly in the face of ELEC's mission to be nonpartisan regardless of who is in the governor's mansion, commission members said last month.

Brindle claims that he was told to report to a meeting at Murphy’s office on Nov. 2, 2022. This was the day after he published an article called “How Not to Enter Politics (A Satire)” on InsiderNJ.com, according to the lawsuit.

A piece of Brindle’s satirical advice for a student seeking to get into politics was to “save time by simply creating a ‘dark money’ non-transparent political action committee to propel them forward to high office,” the lawsuit states.

"The article reflected upon the use of private financing to propel political careers and, in particular, 'dark money' committees, a practice for which defendant Murphy has been separately criticized in the media," the lawsuit states.

Brindle arrived to the meeting at Murphy’s office; the governor was not present, but Helby, Garg, and Rota were, the lawsuit states. Brindle claims they demanded he resign as ELEC’s executive director because he made an “anti-gay” comment in an email and handed him a pre-typed resignation letter on the Governor’s letterhead.

When he asked to see the offending email, Brindle claimed the governor’s staff would not provide it to him. His message was in response to a subordinate's email about National Coming Out Day, according to the New York Times.

“Upon Brindle stating that he would not resign, defendants told Brindle that he would not want publicity about the alleged email after his long career in state government,” the lawsuit states, adding that Brindle took this as an attempt to force or coerce his resignation, and a threat that the email would be released publicly if he did not resign.

He further alleges that the governor’s representatives put pressure on the ELEC commissioners to force his dismissal, and that legislators are seeking to remove him through the Elections Transparency Act being discussed at the statehouse.

The senate Budget and Appropriations Committee passed the most recent version of the Elections Transparency Act this week by a vote of 7-3 (with two not voting and one abstaining). Revisions, made Thursday, removed the provision that gave the governor direct power to appoint the ELEC director.

Brindle said in his lawsuit, filed the day these changes were made, that this aspect of the bill “was to specifically target and remove Brindle from his appointed position and to intentionally deprive Brindle of the privileges and immunities of the office to which he was appointed lawfully by the ELEC Commissioners.”

Brindle is represented by Bruce Afran of Princeton.

Thursday’s amendments to the Elections Transparency Act allow the governor to temporarily appoint ELEC commissioners, who themselves have power to hire and fire an executive director, without approval from the state Senate.

The bill eliminates local pay-to-play laws and brings them under one state system. It would also double the amount that individuals or groups could give to non-gubernatorial candidates, parties, and political committees. The bill requires reporting of any campaign contribution over $200.

It also reduces the statute of limitations for ELEC to enforce campaign finance violations to two years, and more than triples the amount which may be spent in aid for governor and lieutenant governor candidates, according to the most recent version of the bill available online.