New Jersey Governor Starts the Ball Rolling Toward Local Government Ethics Reform

According to an editorial in the New Jersey Star-Ledger, Gov. Corzine has set forth a number of ethics reforms, which focus on cities and counties, where the corruption has been the worst in recent years (see my blog entries here, here, here, and here).

The principal area of reform involves pay-to-play. Currently, state contractors cannot make campaign contributions to state candidates, but local government contractors are free to subsidize local government candidates. Corzine has changed this with an executive order.

The other major change at the local government level involves the parties, which can currently move money from one local government committee to another or to state candidates. This allows state contractors to give money to state candidates via local committees. Corzine has also changed this with an executive order.

But Corzine is not so sure about applying the state ethics code to local governments. He wants to set up a task force to look into this question. The editorial sees it as a no-brainer: "Requiring all government workers to adhere to the same ethical standards and face the same punishment for violations is logical and not in need of any extensive study."

Sadly, the big issue today, according to an article in the Star-Ledger, is whether Corzine is pursuing these goals only to get re-elected next year. That's a better reason to push ethics reform than in response to a big criminal scandal that has little to do with ethics. Corzine isn't wrong because he hasn't done anything for three years. He's right, just late.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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