Ciattarelli accuses Spadeea of ​​running ‘Shadow Campaign’ through radio program

Updated: 18.06

Republican Gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli filed a complaint about campaign financing against radio host Bill Spadeea, accusing his opponent of creating an illegal “Shadow campaign” with the media company hosting the radio program.

Spadeea is the long -standing morning radio personality of NJ 101.5, a subsidiary of Townsquare Media and the state’s largest radio station. The 19-page complainant accuses the media company of promoting SpadeA’s campaign through radio, social media and public events complaint claims that the benefit is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and violating the campaign financing law.

The Ciattarelli campaign says Townsquare Media removed media that could be used to attack Spadeea, pushed pieces in line with Spadea’s campaign announcements and let the candidate use his platform to promote his campaign without having to use campaign money.

“Spadeea dealt with a brave and illegal arrangement to create a shadow campaign funded and managed by his employer, Townsquare Media, who promoted Spadeea’s candidacy of Governor on a daily basis; organized and paid for events in campaign style intended to curry advantage in influential Republicans; And created and promoted content that is favorable to Spadeea at Townsquare’s online and social media channels while changing and deleting unfavorable content and attacking his opponents, ”Ciattarelli strategist Chris Russell said in a release.

The Ciattarelli campaign asked ELEC to refuse Spadeea -Access to matching public funds and to fool “significant” fines on Townsquare Media.

The Spadeea campaign hit back on Ciattarelli in a statement and called the accusations a baseless maneuver to increase Ciattarelli’s campaign.

“Like the Biden-Harris Swamp tried to take down President Trump with Lawfare, the Flailing Ciattarelli campaign is once again trying to do the same to Bill Spadeea,” Tom Bonfonti, Spadeea’s campaign manager, tries in a statement. “Jack has been running for governor for almost a decade, and yet he is only 26% against a first time candidate for state office.”

Bonfonti said Spadeea has complied with the Electoral Act throughout his campaign.

“Bill has fully complied with the law, and this is the second time Jacks tried Lawfare ahead of Elec,” Bonfonti said in a statement. “Jack and his campaign are scared … and it should be. He has already lost twice for governor and the third loss is on the horizon. “

Ciattarelli and Spadeea are two of several Republicans seeking the GOP nomination for Governor. They join the Secretary of State Jon Bramnick and former Secretary of State Ed Durr as Republicans who want to get subsequent time -limited government Phil Murphy.

Politico reported Earlier this month, Spadeea leaves its radio program at the end of January.

SpadeAs Drive Time Show got controversy in June. A lawyer representing Townsquare told ELEC at the time that the radio program did not amount to any value for Spadeea’s campaign because the show lacked “expressed advocate” for his candidacy. Townsquare has played a disclaimer before the Spadea’s show every day, which tells listeners that the company does not support Spadeea or any other candidate.

In June, the ELEC Commissioner allowed the show to continue, but warned that it could be subject to a later study.

Ciattarelli’s complaint accuses the company of backtracking of its neutrality promises. The complaint claims that even the disclaimer “does not serve any legitimate purpose than to make the public aware of” Spadea’s candidacy. They argue that the disclaimer simply improves the radio host’s name -ID among voters.

“Other candidates need to spend large amounts of valuable campaigned collar to increase their name -id and remind voters that they are a candidate for governor,” the complaint reads. “Not Spadeea. Townsquare did it for him by using valuable airtime several times a day to remind listeners/voters that Spadeea is not just a radio jockey or podcast host, but he is also a candidate for governor. “

The complaint says that NJ 101.5 The airspace is sold for $ 500 per day. Minute-Those claim that every 53-second liability disclaimer should be considered a contribution used to increase SpadeA’s name ID.

The filing also criticized Spadeas Podcast with Townsquare, called Common Ground with Bill Spadeea. The complaint claims that the podcast shares a similar name and logo as Spadeea-founded political groups such as Healthy Sense Club.

“It certainly seems that Townsquare went out of its way of adjusting its sponsored podcast with the various ‘independent expenses’ devices that support SpadeA’s campaign,” the archiving reads.

The Ciattarelli campaign argues that Townsquare is funding events for the podcast, which often contains Republican officials and uses the city-financed events to “curry advantage” and earn endorsements.

“Any other candidate would be forced to use valuable campaign resources to seek support from these individuals and participate in their events,” the complaint says. “However, Spadeea does it all at Townsquare’s crown by promoting these people in exchange for support for his candidacy.”

The complaint claims that after Spadeea was facing an attack on alleged disloyalty to President Donald Trump, NJ 101.5 was re -released a month -old interview Spadeea held with the then candidate Trump. In this interview, Trump criticized Ciattarellis Gubernatorial campaign from 2021.

“Neutral does not include repositioning and attaching outdated videos/interviews with rewritten headlines in response to attack ads aimed at Spadeea,” the complaint reads.

Spadeea and Ciattarelli both seek the votes of Trump-supporting New Jerseyans and have painted each other as disloyal to the president throughout the campaign.

The filing also accuses NJ 101.5 of hiding and deleting references to Spadea’s interview from 2023 with former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. The complaint says Spadeea praised Christie’s presidential driving against Trump during the interview.

“Just as Colonel Jessup did with the notorious flight in” A couple of good men, “Townsquare simply made Spadea’s praise for Christie’s presidential campaign against President Trump disappeared. It seems that neither Spadeea nor Townsquare can handle the truth, ”says the archiving.

The Ciattarelli campaign sent the complaint to the NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission on Tuesday.

“Every candidate who runs for Governor of New Jersey – both Democratic and Republican – is to collect and spend their own money on doing all the things that Townsquare Media has done for Bill Spadeea for the past 6 months,” Russell said in A release. “Townsquare’s contribution to the Spadeea campaign is easy in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more.”

This article was updated to include a statement from the Spadeea campaign.