TRENTON –– Assemblymen Jeff Van Drew and Nelson Albano (both D-1st) are safe from ethics complaints lodged against them during the recent highly contested legislative race.
The Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards dismissed charges on the 1st District lawmakers as well as those lodged against six other legislators.
Allison Murphy, Van Drew’s assistant, told the Herald that the complaints were bogus and she was glad the ethics panel agreed.
She explained that the GOP complained that Van Drew’s office was using funds inappropriately regarding a mailer they sent reminding district residents not to forget their Home-stead Rebate applications, but she said their office did nothing wrong.
“They (Republican candidates) were wasting government resources by filing a bogus com-plaint,” she said.
She called the complaints “campaign tactics.”
On Oct. 25, Asselta and his running mates, R. Norris Clark and Michael Donohue, called on the Attorney General Anne Milgram to investigate a series of “suspect” campaign finance transactions.
The Republican team alleged that Camden Democrats funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars through the Cape May Democratic Committee to fund Van Drew’s and Albano’s campaigns. They said Milgram should “determine whether and just how badly New Jersey campaign finance laws were broken” by the Democrats.
Murphy again called these charges bogus and said no formal charges were ever made to the Attorney General.
Van Drew won election over Sen. Nicolas Asselta and Albano won reelection. Newcomer Matthew Milam was also elected making it a clean sweep for Democrats in the in the 1st District.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
