TRENTON — Democrats today called on Republicans to disclose donors to an organization they set up to help fund their redistricting efforts, and then to disband it. Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Mercer) said redistricting should be publicly funded, and said soliciting private donations is equivalent to having corporations sponsor legislative committees. “The Assembly Environment Committee sponsored by BP. Or...
Legislative Redistricting Commission members listen to public speakers during a public hearing held Saturday in Camden. TRENTON — Democrats today called on Republicans to disclose donors to an organization they set up to help fund their redistricting efforts, and then to disband it.
Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Mercer) said redistricting should be publicly funded, and said soliciting private donations is equivalent to having corporations sponsor legislative committees.
“The Assembly Environment Committee sponsored by BP. Or the Assembly Budget Committee sponsored by Enron,” said Coleman. “They are bringing big money influences into what is widely regarded as one of the best, fairest and open redistricting processes in the nation. The entire process will be tainted thanks to this corrosive Republican end run around our government and campaign finance laws.”
Coleman joined Assemblywoman Nellie Pou (D-Passaic) and state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) to protest the Republicans’ organization, called the Center for a Better New Jersey.
Democrats and Republicans are engaged in the once-in-a-decade process of redrawing the state’s 40 legislative districts according to Census data that’s set to be released this week. A 10-member commission made up of five Democrats and five Republicans will work to come up with a map, and if they can’t agree on one within a month of receiving the data – which almost always happens – chief Justice Stuart Rabner will appoint an 11th tie-breaking member.
The stakes are high. The configuration of the new legislative map looks will help decide which party controls both houses of the Legislature for the next 10 years.
Republicans set up the Center for a Better New Jersey to help fund their efforts, and to solicit input from some outside groups. The organization — run by Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr. (R-Union), Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Morris) and Assembly Republican Conference Leader Jon Bramnick (R-Union) – does not have to publicly disclose its donors, and Republicans have not said whether it will.
Kean and DeCroce run Senate and Assembly leadership political action committees, which under state law cannot accept large donations from companies that do business with the state. The Center for a Better New Jersey is not subject to such restrictions.
State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) compared it to Reform Jersey Now, an issues-advocacy group tied to Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s closest advisers that took money from companies with hundreds of millions in state contractors, who would have been barred from giving large donations directly to Christie.
“If Reform New Jersey Now were Frankenstein, then the Center for a Better New Jersey would definitely be the Son of Frankenstein,” she said. “We have no way of knowing if Senator Kean is directing contributors who have maxed out in contributions to his leadership PAC to give undisclosed, unlimited amounts to the Center for a Better New Jersey. It would be interesting to see what special favors those donors would be looking to get from a Republican-dominated legislature.”
Mark Sheridan, an attorney for the Center for a Better New Jersey, responded by referring back to earlier comments made by Kean that the group would “fully comply with all reporting and disclosure laws."