TRENTON — For state legislative candidates and political parties, the first half of the last decade was like the roaring 1920s in terms of contributions, according to a report released today by the state’s campaign finance watchdog. By the end of the decade, politicians were suffering a “donor depression.” “The past decade began like a lion and ended like...
Gov. Chris Christie is shown in this file photo. Fundraising for both major N.J. political parties has fallen sharply since the recession began three years ago.TRENTON — For state legislative candidates and political parties, the first half of the last decade was like the roaring 1920s in terms of contributions, according to a report released today by the state’s campaign finance watchdog.
By the end of the decade, politicians were suffering a “donor depression.”
“The past decade began like a lion and ended like a lamb in terms of fundraising for New Jersey legislative general election campaigns,” read the Election Law Enforcement Commission report, an analysis of the last 10 years of state legislative campaign contributions.
The turning point was 2005 – when the state instituted pay-to-play laws to limit public contractor’ contributions. Some of that money, however, was channeled into political action committees instead to bypass pay-to-play restrictions.
The decline was compounded when the recession hit a few years later.
“This was true despite the fact that fundraising soared to a record $51 million in the 2007 campaign. By 2009, with just the State Assembly running, fundraising dropped to $20 million, the lowest total since 1999.”
Part of the reason fundraising hit record levels in 2007, when all 120 seats were up in the state Senate and Assembly, was a pilot program that funded campaigns with $4.2 million. Otherwise, fundraising would have been down from the last comparable election.
In 2009, when all 80 Assembly seats were up for election, less was spent than the previous similar election year for the first time in at least 25 years. In 2001, Assembly candidates $25 million. Four years later, they raised $20 million.
Some other facts the commission outlined:
• Between 1999 and 2009, the 14th Legislative District in Mercer and Middlesex Counties had the most money thrown at it, with more than $14 million since 2009. The district, which changed slightly this year after redistricting, is again host to one of the state’s most competitive elections this year.
• The most expensive legislative election in history was in South Jersey’s 4th District, when Democrat Fred Madden (D-Gloucester) unseated Republican incumbent state Sen. George Geist. Both parties spent $6.1 million.
• Former Gov. Jon Corzine and 2005 gubernatorial rival Doug Forrester gave $1.1 million to legislative candidates and $4.6 million to county parties over the years.
• An increasing but still small number of candidates have significantly self-funded their campaigns. For instance: Bob Martin, the current Department of Environmental Protection commissioner, spent $185,000 on his 2007 unsuccessful campaign against state Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Mercer) in the heavily Democratic 15th Legislative District. Gina Genovese, who ran unsuccessfully against state Sen. Tom Kean, Jr. in 2007 in a Republican-dominated district, spent $235,000 of her own money.
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