(Parsippany, NJ) Assemblyman Brian Bergen’s grandstanding in opposition to the Democrats’ gutting of the state’s election law watchdog agency belies his own efforts to conduct an end run around election transparency when he ran for the Assembly in 2019, says BettyLou DeCroce.

Bergen used an anonymous Wyoming-registered consulting company in his campaign for the Republican State Assembly nomination in the former 25th legislative district, according to state records and news reports.

According to press reports, Bergen paid approximately $15,000 to the anonymous company during the campaign. After the election, the owner of the company sued Bergen for $15,000, claiming that Bergen promised to pay him as a “win bonus.” Bergen refused to pay the bonus fee after he won the election.

The matter went to court and in February 2021, Superior Court Judge William J. McGovern III in Morristown ordered Bergen to pay the consultant he hired the $15,000 fee.

DeCroce, as a then-member of the Assembly, immediately introduced legislation that would require candidates to identify their paid political consultants.

“There is no room in our state politics for candidates that use shell corporations to conceal the identity of their consultants,” said DeCroce when she introduced the legislation.

DeCroce, who is now running to unseat Bergen for the GOP Assembly nomination in District 26 (Morris & Passaic counties), said outrage at Gov. Phil Murphy’s and the state Democrats emasculating of the state’s independent election watchdog agency – known as ELEC – is justified, but that Bergen is the wrong person to carry the message.

“Brian Bergen knew when he hired a Wyoming-chartered consulting firm that he was doing so to evade detection. He was trying to hide something. What was it?” asked DeCroce. “And why did he try to stiff the consultant out of money he was contractually obligated to pay?”

Wyoming allows people to form companies whose ownership is shielded from the public. Reuters News Service called Wyoming “the Cayman Islands of the American Prairie.”

“All Republicans and all those who want clean elections oppose Gov. Murphy’s takeover of ELEC. We want transparency in our elections. Brian Bergen tried to evade election transparency in 2019 and only became a convert when he was brought to court to pay what he owed. Now he wants us to believe that his outrage over the Democrats’ power grab is real. It’s not. It’s a way for him to deflect attention from his prior conduct,” said DeCroce.