Campaign Email Sent to Zoning Office Was an 'Oversight,' Republicans Say

This post was updated at 11 a.m. with additional information from ELEC.

Campaign correspondence sent by the Republican candidates for council in Marlboro was accidentally sent to a .gov email address, one candidate said.

The email, which contained voting date information and a link to a survey being circulated by the candidates, was sent to a government issued email address for a Zoning Officer employed by Marlboro Township, according to records obtained by Patch. State election law prohibits the use of government resources for campaign reasons.

Joe Donohue, deputy director at the NJ Election Law Enforcement office said sending emails to .gov addresses is a grey area in election law.

"Generally speaking, the law is designed to prevent the use of public property to distribute campaign literature. Something like this, without getting too specific, seems inadvertent. It seems like a relatively minor thing."

Donohue said the agency cannot comment on specific instances unless a complaint has been made, and cannot determine whether a law was broken without an investigation.

"We don't know all the facts on this, anyone can file a complaint with us and our investigators will look into it."

Candidate Marielaina LaRosa said she and her running mates compiled their email lists based on friends, family and people they have previously corresponded with. She said it's possible one of her running mates previously corresponded with the zoning officer for reasons unrelated to the campaign, and inadvertently put the email on a campaign list.

"I didn't send it out, I honestly don't know who did. It was an oversight and it wasn't done intentionally. We're human."

The email is signed "Marshall, Knight and LaRosa" indicating candidates Craig Marshal and Bob Knight as well. It invites people to take an online survey about the state of Marlboro Township, the results of the survey would be shared with recipients in "a couple of weeks."

Democratic challenger and incumbent Jeff Cantor said, "It's a shame that the Republican candidates and municipal chair do not know the rules for proper conduct during an election. If they can't follow the rules when they are running for office, how could you possibly trust them if they hold elected office? I certainly hope they take the time to read the rules and regulations on how to ethically conduct themselves."

Records indicate the email was sent and received on Oct. 1 from a campaign email address.

"It wasn't intentional, it was inadvertently sent to [a government address]," LaRosa said.

LaRosa, Knight and Marshall are running against incumbent Democratic candidates Scott Metzger, Carol Mazzola and Cantor.