TRENTON, N.J. – The party that champions womens rights is once again off to a bad start when it comes to the governor’s office in New Jersey where the “Me too” movement has become the “It wasn’t me” movement.
New Jersey Lt. Gov. Reverend Dale Caldwell was defending himself against allegations involving women by May 28 — more than three months before the existence of an outside investigation into his conduct became public.
The Lt. Governor is accused of innapropriate behavior towards women.
That newly disclosed timeline is sharpening a question for Gov. Mikie Sherrill: when did she personally learn what was being alleged against the man she chose as her running mate, and why did the administration say nothing publicly until reporters uncovered the investigation?
There is now evidence that the Sherrill administration knew enough about the matter months ago to hire outside investigators. The timing has already become a point of political contention in Trenton. What remains less clear is exactly when the allegations reached Sherrill herself and how much she knew at each stage.
Caldwell Was Answering Accusations in May
The investigation traces back to an anonymous complaint dated May 6 that was distributed to state officials and members of the media, according to a letter first reported Wednesday and subsequently authenticated by The New York Times.
The complaint alleged Caldwell brought women who were not invited to several events, used his position to get them admitted without paying and handed out business cards while seeking dates.
Those are allegations of inappropriate behavior and potential ethics violations. The publicly disclosed May complaint does not, however, accuse Caldwell of sexual assault.
Caldwell responded in writing May 28 to New Jersey’s chief ethics officer. He denied the allegations and suggested race and gender played a role in how his conduct was being characterized.
“As the first single Black man to serve at this level in government, I suspect that there will be other false accusations or rumors in the future,” Caldwell wrote, according to the letter reported by The New York Times.
He called the complaint “inaccurate, misleading and completely false” and said it appeared to be driven by “misinformation, false assumptions” and a personal vendetta. Caldwell also said one woman who accompanied him to an event was his daughter.
The distinction matters. Caldwell’s May response confirms that accusations concerning his conduct were circulating inside state government months before the public learned about the investigation, but his response is not proof that the allegations themselves are true.
How Long Did Sherrill Know?
That is now the central unanswered question.
After the anonymous complaint arrived, Sherrill enlisted former New Jersey Attorney General Christopher Porrino to examine whether Caldwell had engaged in inappropriate behavior with women during his tenure as lieutenant governor, The New York Times reported. News 12 independently reported that the outside law firm received the matter in June.
That establishes administration knowledge by late spring or early summer.
It does not, based on the public record available Thursday morning, establish the exact date Sherrill personally read the complaint, was briefed on its substance or decided to retain the outside investigators.
The investigation remained out of public view until the New Jersey Globe reported it Sept. 4. At that point, Sherrill’s office said it could neither confirm nor deny a potential personnel matter.
“Given the seriousness of these allegations, it’s hardly reassuring that the Sherrill administration’s idea of transparency apparently involves ghosting, blocking, and doxxing,” said New Jersey State Senator Declan O’Scanlon. “The Caldwell situation is, and must, run its course. But this new, under-reported, revelation appears to be a separate potential scandal and raises troubling questions: What did Governor Sherrill, Lt. Governor Caldwell, and their staff know, when did they know it, what did they do about it?”
Sherrill addressed the controversy more broadly Tuesday, as the investigation became an early test for her administration.
“I take my responsibility to treat any reports of inappropriate behavior or misconduct extremely seriously, and any credible report must be fully examined and addressed,” she said. “If the evidence warrants, I will take appropriate action quickly.”
But when reporters questioned her Wednesday, Sherrill still declined to confirm that Caldwell was the subject of the investigation.
“I’m not going to confirm or deny whether there’s an ongoing investigation,” she said.
The outside review is reportedly nearing completion.
An Uncomfortable Echo From the Murphy Administration
New Jersey has been through a controversy with a strikingly similar question before: what did the governor know, when did people around him know it, and why did the public learn about it through the press?
Like Phil Murphy, the Sherrill transition team members were forced to sign non-disclosure agreements.
What happened
Katie Brennan accused Al Alvarez, a fellow worker on Phil Murphy‘s 2017 gubernatorial campaign, of raping her after a campaign gathering. Alvarez denied the allegation and was never criminally charged. He later received a senior position at the Schools Development Authority after Murphy took office.
Brennan went to police and later tried repeatedly to get the attention of people inside Murphy’s political and governmental operation.
“I had access to people in the highest positions of power in the State of New Jersey,” Brennan told lawmakers in December 2018. “And at each turn, my pleas for help went unanswered.”
Senior Murphy aides knew about the allegation well before the governor said he did.
Brennan told Murphy’s chief counsel, Matt Platkin, about the alleged assault in March 2018. She emailed Murphy and first lady Tammy Murphy on June 1 seeking a meeting about a “sensitive matter,” without describing the allegation in that email. Murphy responded, “hang in. We are on it.” The requested meeting never happened.
Alvarez was told in March that he should leave state government, according to later legislative testimony. Yet he remained in his $140,000 position for roughly six more months.
He resigned in October, as The Wall Street Journal was preparing to publish Brennan’s account. The controversy would eventually trigger extensive legislative scrutiny of how the Murphy administration handled Brennan’s allegations.
Murphy maintained that he did not personally learn the substance of Brennan’s allegation until Oct. 2, when the story was about to become public. His chief of staff later testified that Murphy and his wife were “both blindsided and completely shocked.”
Lawmakers Later Found Serious Failures
The Brennan controversy did not disappear after Alvarez resigned.
A bipartisan legislative investigation examined how someone facing such a serious allegation could move into a senior state job, why Brennan’s repeated attempts to raise the issue failed to produce a timely resolution and why information known to senior aides did not reach Murphy.
The Legislature’s Select Oversight Committee ultimately concluded that the administration had seriously mishandled the matter. Among its findings was that Brennan’s allegation should have been investigated before Alvarez was hired and that aides erred by keeping Murphy uninformed.
Platkin later told lawmakers he believed confidentiality requirements prevented him from informing Murphy.
“With hindsight, obviously, a different conclusion as to who should have been informed or who should not have been informed, I think, is fair,” Platkin testified.
The episode prompted hearings, administrative reviews and changes intended to address how misconduct complaints moved through state government. Brennan later sued, and the case was resolved in 2020 through a $1 million settlement involving the state and Murphy campaign, with no admission of wrongdoing.
Caldwell Case Puts the Same Transparency Question Back in Trenton
Eight years later, Sherrill is confronting a different set of allegations but a familiar transparency problem.
There is one significant difference already apparent: her administration hired outside counsel to investigate Caldwell rather than leaving the matter unresolved inside the normal personnel process. Former Attorney General Porrino and former federal prosecutor Shontae Gray are conducting the inquiry.
But the May letter changes the public timeline.
Caldwell was formally responding to accusations by May 28. Outside investigators reportedly had the case by June. The public did not learn about the investigation until Sept. 4.
That is roughly three months, not four, between Caldwell’s written response and the first public reports of the investigation.
What has not yet been established is when Sherrill herself first knew the details, whether Caldwell’s May letter reached her directly, what information prompted her to order the outside investigation and why Caldwell continued performing the duties of lieutenant governor and secretary of state while the inquiry proceeded.
Those are factual questions that can be answered without assuming either Caldwell’s guilt or Sherrill’s motives.
And after what happened during the opening year of the Murphy administration, they are questions New Jersey has heard before.
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