In response to a growing wave of violence against elected officials around the country, the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) proposed a new regulation today that would explicitly authorize candidates and officeholders to use campaign money on personal security.
ELEC said in a release that it has historically already allowed the state, county, and local candidates it oversees to use their campaign accounts for such purposes, but the new regulation aims to “explicitly standardize” such spending.
According to the release, campaign money could be spent for security purposes as long as the candidate faces “ongoing dangers or threats that would not exist irrespective of the individual’s status or duties as a candidate or officeholder,” though it’s not clear how such threats would be defined or determined.
The regulation would cover security devices like locks, alarms, cameras, lighting, and fencing; security personnel and services; and cybersecurity software and devices. Such devices and services would officially be the property of the campaign, and would have to be dissolved or sold once the individual ends their campaign or leaves office.
ELEC will hold a public meeting on the proposed regulation on November 18 in Trenton. If approved, the regulation could go into effect as soon as December of this year or January of the next.
Worries about violence against politicians have been steadily growing for years, and exploded further this summer after two Minnesota lawmakers were shot, one fatally, in a politically motivated attack. The shootings spooked state legislators around the country, including in New Jersey, where many legislators wondered about their own safety and questioned whether there were steps they needed to take to protect themselves.
New Jersey, too, has seen its own share of violence against public figures in recent years, though the most prominent examples may not have been covered by ELEC’s proposed regulation.
In February 2023, two local New Jersey elected officials – Sayreville Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour and Milford Councilman Russell Heller – were shot and killed in separate attacks, but both killings seemingly stemmed from personal disputes rather than political ones. And in 2020, U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas was targeted by a deranged men’s rights activist who opened fire at her home, killing her son and injuring her husband; Salas, who as a federal judge is far outside of ELEC’s jurisdiction, was unharmed.
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