NJ Municipal Pay-to-Play Ordinances and a State Contribution Database
Who expects a wonderful local government ethics surprise to come from
New Jersey? Check out the Department of State's <a href="http://www.state.nj.us/state/secretary/ordinance.html#1" target="”_blank”">Pay-to-Play
Ordinances page</a>, which provides links, county by county, of
municipal ordinances placing a limited contribution ban on those
entering into municipal contracts.<br>
<br>
The ordinances are based on a <a href="http://westorange2006.com/p2pOrd.pdf" target="”_blank”">model ordinance</a>
drafted by<a href="http://jointhecampaign.com" target="”_blank”"> Citizens' Campaign</a>,
a New Jersey good government organization. According to <a href="http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20100102/OPINION01/91230027/1005/NEW…; target="”_blank”">an
opinion piece in yesterday's <i>Daily Record</i></a>, about 70 towns and
cities have passed such an ordinance. But just last week, Morris
Township, a wealthy suburban municipality, rejected a pay-to-play ordinance. One
committee member said that the ordinance should cover labor unions,
while another said that it would create too much work for procurement
officials.<br>
<br>
The state has its own municipal pay-to-play law, passed in 2001, but it
has too many loopholes (click <a href="http://www.state.nj.us/dca/lgs/p2p/refs/p2pguide.pdf" target="”_blank”">here </a>for
an excellent guide to the statute). The statute deals only with no-bid
contracts. It's okay for contractors to make contributions to those
with control over their contracts, as long as the agency provides a
"fair and open process."<br>
<br>
Not only does the agency, including candidates
given contributions, determine what is "fair and open" (for example,
although the contract has to be advertised, the agency determines what
is "a sufficent time to give notice in advance of the contract"). The
agency also writes the specifications (or decides who write them),
which often discriminate in favor or against one or more contractors. The agency also determines when exceptions apply.<br>
<br>
Although the guide to the statute provides guidelines, such as
10-calendar-day notice of bids (which in many cases will not be nearly
enough), they are not binding. According to <a href="http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/11/pay_to.html" target="”_blank”">a recent
article in the <i>Star-Ledger</i></a>, a spokesperson for Citizens' Campaign
says that these guidelines are being ignored. "We’ve heard horror
stories of
towns posting for services on Friday night and awarding the contract on
Monday morning. It allows the pay-to-play game to continue."<br>
<br>
One great thing happened in November: the NJ Election Law
Enforcement Commission started compiling local government contributions
from contractors in <a href="https://wwwnet1.state.nj.us/lpd/elec/ptp/quickdownload.html" target="”_blank”">one
state-local database</a>, so that citizens can see how much money is
being given by contractors and professionals who do business with local
governments. Elsewhere there is more complete local government
contribution data, so you can also see how much money comes from
employees, for example.<br>
<br>
Here's an amusing quotation on this topic (from the <i>Star-Ledger</i>
article). 301 employees of the Essex County
Sheriff’s Office gave a total of $68,360 in contributions to the
sheriff's re-election campaign, most of them in the amount of $200. The
sheriff said he does not solicit his employees for his campaign. "I’m
not an aggressive fundraiser. I hate raising money.
But people show up at the door and we don’t turn them away. I don’t
know if they love me that much, but we get a lot of people from the
department showing up."<br>
<br>
Well, now they'll show up to the public, too. It takes a lot of
scandals to get this sort of information made easily available. Local
government associations strenuously oppose this sort of transparency.
From their point of view, which often has little to do with the public
interest, it can only cause headaches for local officials and make it
harder for candidates (especially the incumbents the associations
represent) to raise money.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/11/pay_to.html" target="”_blank”">the
<i>Star-Ledger</i> article</a>, the data showed that "less than half of the
money to [municipal] campaigns came from individual
voters ... Instead, it came from businesses, political
action committees, labor organizations, associations and other special
interest groups." It certainly doesn't appear that pay-to-play laws are
working.<br>
<br>
2009 contribution information will go online in February, and school
board campaign data will "eventually" be added.<br>
<br>
For more on this, see <a href="http://www.wilentz.com/Files/ArticlesandPublicationsFileFiles/128/Artic…; target="”_blank”">a
guide to NJ pay-to-play laws, intended for companies</a>.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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