Jersey Freedom, the shadowy dark money group that is backing a phantom candidate for State Senate, has spent $35,226 in two South Jersey races but received no contributions, according to reports filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.
The tenebrous group based out of a post office box in Jamaica, Queens, has sent attack mailers seeking to redirect Republican voters from the GOP Senate nominee in the 4th district, Christopher Del Borrello, to Giuseppe Costanzo, a ghost candidate running as an independent conservative.
Jersey Freedom, which was formed on September 11, reported no donors and $35,226 of debt. They spent $15,190 on independent expenditures in support of Costanzo, and $20,036 to help Libertarian Senate candidate Shawn Peck in the 2nd district. Peck’s outage over the Jersey Freedom mailer led him to drop out of the race and endorse State Sen. Vince Polistina (R-Egg Harbor Township) for re-election.
Not included in the 11-day pre-election report are cable TV ads that began running on Fox News in support of Costanzo on Saturday.
The ad was placed by the same media firm that is also handling anti-Del Borrello attack ads for another independent expenditure group, Brighter Future Forward, that is directly tied to the South Jersey Democratic machine.
Costanzo, a 62-year-old restaurant account manager from Clementon, has been a mythical figure on the campaign trail. He has raised no money, opened no social media accounts, and has practically no digital footprint. He has made no case for his own candidacy, and no longer answers his cell phone. Until earlier this year, he wasn’t even a registered voter.
His conservative running mate, Maureen Dukes-Penrose, a Democrat, told the New Jersey Globe that retiring State Sen. Fred Madden (D-Washington), a former Gloucester County Democratic Chairman, encouraged her to run. As an independent. Madden said that wasn’t true.
Another group making independent expenditures, Brighter Future Forward, has direct ties to South Jersey Democrats. The group, which has been running TV ads in South Jersey races, has raised $2.5 million: $1 million from the Carpenter’s Action Fund and $1.5 million from Working for Working Americans, a Las Vegas-based group.
Brighter Future Forward has spent $1.95 million so far and had $549,061 cash-on-hand as of the end of the reporting period.
One of the circulators of nominating petitions for Costanzo and Dukes-Penrose as an independent conservative has close ties to South Jersey Democrats.
Angela McGeehan, a 36-year-old administrative employee at Washington Township High School, collected more than one-third of the petition signatures for Costanzo and Dukes-Penrose.
She is the daughter of Frank J. Cianci, the longtime Washington Township Democratic municipal chairman before stepping down earlier this year, and ardent supporter of the Democratic nominee for State Senate in the 4th district, Paul Moriarty (D-Washington Township).
McGeehan also spent six years working in the Gloucester County Clerk’s office.
She remains unwilling to discuss her role in the phantom campaigns.,
“I have no comment at this time,” McGeehan told the New Jersey Globe on Monday morning.
This media placement agency is the second link between Jersey Freedom and Brighter Future Forward.
The two groups used the same union printer from Baltimore for attack mailers in the 4th district, and both used seemingly identical research on Del Borrello.
This is the second link between Jersey Freedom and Brighter Future Forward. The two groups used the same union printer from Baltimore for attack mailers in the 4th district, and both used seemingly identical research on Del Borrello.
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October 30, 2023 at 10:39PM
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Jersey Freedom remains a dark money group, with a debt and no donors - New Jersey Globe | New Jersey Politics
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