The Ciattarelli campaign has filed a complaint with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (NJ ELEC) accusing its primary opponent, Bill Spadea, and NJ 101.5’s parent company Townsquare Media “conspired to create a shadow campaign that allowed Spadea to run for governor while offloading significant expenses on to his employer.”
“Faced with embarrassingly low fundraising numbers and a tidal wave of videos with Spadea in his own words attacking President Trump and demanding amnesty for illegal immigrants, Bill Spadea hit the panic button,” said Ciattarelli strategist Chris Russell.
“Spadea engaged in a brazen and illegal scheme to set up a shadow campaign funded and managed by his employer, Townsquare Media, that promoted Spadea’s candidacy for governor on a daily basis; organized and paid for campaign-style events meant to curry favor with influential Republicans; and created and promoted content favorable to Spadea on Townsquare’s online and social media channels, while altering and deleting unfavorable content, and attacking his opponents,” Russell continued. “Every candidate running for governor in New Jersey – both Democratic and Republican – has to raise and spend their own money to do all of the things that Townsquare Media has done for Bill Spadea in the past 6 months.”
Spadea was already reportedly planning to depart his drive time morning program at the end of January prior to the filing of the Ciattarelli’s complaint.
Lawyers for both camps and Townsquare argued before ELEC back in June 2024 but that proceeding ended inconclusively. In the 19-page document, the Ciattarelli campaign asked ELEC to count Spadea’s time on air against his applicable campaign finance limits.
“The Commission previously advised Spadea and Townsquare that their ‘guidelines’ were ‘insufficient.’ Despite that, Townsquare and Spadea took no steps to prevent Spadea from using his radio show and Townsquare’s various platforms from benefitting Spadea’s campaign. Instead, Bill Spadea and Townsquare conspired to violate New Jersey’s campaign finance law by boosting Spadea’s name ID and advancing his candidacy. Townsquare has made hundreds of thousands of dollars of unlawful contributions to Spadea’s campaign with the full knowledge and acquiescence of Spadea. What is outlined above is merely the tip of the iceberg. The Commission must not allow Spadea and Townsquare to deprive Republicans of a fair primary contest. Accordingly, until the Commission determines the full value of Townsquare’s contributions, the impact on Spadea’s expenditure limit, and appropriate penalties, it should withhold matching funds from Spadea.”
Click here to read the full complaint.
“Townsquare’s in-kind contribution to the Spadea campaign is easily into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more. Every observer of New Jersey politics – including many in the news media – has seen this scam for what it is,” added Spadea. “Today, we call on the regulators at NJ ELEC to review the ample evidence we’ve provided and take action to bar Spadea for Governor from receiving any matching funds.”
