Former N.J. governor pays fine to resolve 10-year-old campaign violations

A former New Jersey governor has resolved a 10-year-old case involving campaign finance violations.

Former Gov. Don DiFrancesco was charged with failing to return excessive contributions to his state Senate primary campaign in 2001 and not filing election fund reports.

Jeff Brindle, the executive director of the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, said DiFrancesco has paid $4,600 to clear up the violations and has returned $9,600 in contributions that were over the limit.

“The fact that this goes back to 2001 does demonstrate that the commission is very persistent in making the various situations right,” Brindle said.

He said the case took a decade to resolve because of a staffing shortage at the commission.

“In the last two years we’ve been making a real effort despite staff limitations. We only have five attorneys and five investigators to cover the entire state,” Brindle said. “We have hundreds of complaints coming in every year.”