The Star Ledger is reporting that the campaigns of Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) paid nearly $40,000 to settle charges by a former election worker who said he lost his job for hiring minorities to assist in canvassing operations in predominantly white areas.
Christopher Nastuk, a canvass director tasked with finding field workers to get out the Democratic vote in the 2008 election first filed suit last year in federal court. Both campaigns denied the allegations, but quietly settled the case out of court over the summer. While the agreement was kept confidential, recently released campaign finance reports show that each campaign paid out $19,500 right before the lawsuit was dismissed.
“The settlement ends a baseless, frivolous, two-year-long litigation process,” said Angelo J. Genova, who serves as counsel to both campaigns. “The campaigns continue to vehemently deny these claims, and chose to accept this nuisance-value settlement to avoid any prospect of future litigation costs.”
