Peters, Lucas & Little for Monmouth County

PETERS, LUCAS & LITTLE CHALLENGE
DEMS TO SPENDING REFORM
- Republicans Renew Call for Campaign Spending Cap -

Republican candidates for Monmouth County Surrogate and Freeholder today challenged their opponents to act on recent calls to implement campaign spending reform measures in this year's county campaign.

"This past weekend the chairman of the Monmouth County Democrat party rejected a campaign spending reform proposal," said Monmouth County Republican candidate for Surrogate Rosemarie Peters. "Today, we are calling on our opponents to distance themselves from their party leadership and adopt our package of reforms."

To date, Democrats have not provided any alternatives of their own to the reform package proposed by Republicans. According to reports, last year Monmouth County Democrats received over $87,000 from labor unions outside of the county. The New York Council of Carpenters gave $25,000 to local Democrats and Trenton Democrats rolled in $37,000.

"Last year Democrats wheeled in tens of thousands of dollars from a variety of sources around the state," said Freeholder Anna Little. "Our opponents' silence draws serious questions on how they intend to raise and spend their campaign cash this year."

Last month, Monmouth County Republicans proposed and implemented a campaign finance reform plan touted as an "Ethical Roadmap for Monmouth County Republicans." The plan called for a campaign spending cap and online disclosure of contributions by both parties in this year's county race for Surrogate and Freeholder.

"One of our proposals is to cap how much we spend on our campaign this year in an effort to limit the amount of money in politics," said Andrew Lucas. "Now that our opponents have been selected, they should do the right thing by joining us and lead by example. We want to focus our campaign on the issues that matter most to Monmouth County taxpayers, not the kind of partisan mudslinging voters are tired of seeing."

The Republican's Ethical Roadmap calls for a $225,000 total expenditure cap by each party, limiting candidates to $75,000 each.

"It has been over a month and our opponents have been totally silent. Instead, the Democrat chairman launched a vicious series of attacks and innuendo," said Little. "When will the Democrat candidates stand up and say where they stand? The voters of Monmouth County need to know that they are committed to a positive, issue based campaign and this is a good first step in proving that."