Politics & Government

Report: Politicians Hide Donor Names And It's Legal

New Jersey law allows contributors who donate less than $300 to remain anonymous.

A report published last week revealed New Jersey’s current campaign donation system needs to be revised after it was disclosed politicians can receive more money while still keeping the names of their donors secret — as long as the contributions are less than $300.

The NJ.com report said most states allow campaigns to keep only those donors who give $100, $50 or less private, but Garden State politicians don’t have to report any information about people who contribute less than $300.

The report said because of the state’s secretive laws, candidates were able to hide about $12 million out of the $100 million donated.

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The state’s rule allowing campaigns to keep these donors anonymous could undergo a re-evaluation after one of the state’s most influential engineering firms, Birdsall Services Group, and seven former executives were recently indicted for allegedly funneling more than $686,000 through employees to elected officials in chunks of $300 or less.

In response to the newspaper’s findings, the executive director of the state Election Law Enforcement Commission, Jeffrey Brindle, said he would consider recommending the threshold be lowered to bring New Jersey more in line with the rest of the country.

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