Ethics Contact Person:
Rita L. Strmensky,
Executive Director,
Executive Commission on Ethical Standards (COGEL Member)
Address:
Executive Commission on Ethical Standards
28 West State Street, Room 1407
P.O. Box 082
Trenton, NJ 08625
Main Office Number: 1-888-223-1355
Synopsis of State Ethics Program: New Jersey's ethics website is particularly well-organized, and offers modules for ethics training in addition to the state's various ethics codes. The site also lists ethics liaison officers, who work in departments ranging from affordable housing to casino control as well as a FAQ that covers various issues.
The New Jersey legislative website provides for online tutorials for legislative ethics.
New Jersey's Local Government Ethics Law, N.J.S.A. 40A:9-22.1 et seq. is administered by the Division of Local Government Services in the State's Department of Community Affairs.
Largest City:
The City Council of Atlantic City is considering an ordinance that would place restrictions on the amount of money companies that do business with the city can contribute to political campaigns. The council is trying to clean up its image after members resigned for accepting bribes and an ethics commission that threatened suit in order to get needed supplies.
Largest County:
The Bergen County Board of Elections has its own Code of Ethics which can be found here. The code is set up to govern and guide the conduct of officers and employees in the County Board of Elections. The code is intended to be supplementary to all standards provided in the New Jersey Conflict of Interest Laws.
Common Cause has its own site for New Jersey. The goal of Common Cause New Jersey is to push back the influence of special interest money, while advancing the influence of citizens in setting its government's agenda. Their strategy is to begin at a level of government still accessible to them - within their hometowns - and work from the bottom up. In order to accomplish this goal, they joined forces with The Center for Civic Responsibility to form the Citizens' Campaign.
The Citizens' Campaign is a state-wide effort of private citizens working to get people to take a more active role in government. New Jersey's political power lies in the hands of a few. Together, Campaign members from across the state are working to break up the current power structure in NJ, and redistribute the power back where it belongs ... in the hands of the citizens.
Updated by: Mitchell W. Goldberg, intern, General Counsel's Office, City of Jacksonville Florida 7/5/07