New Jersey Governor Starts the Ball Rolling Toward Local Government Ethics Reform
According to <a href="http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-2/12225760593…; target="”_blank”">an
editorial in the New Jersey Star-Ledger</a>, 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 <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/333" target="”_blank”">here</a>, <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/390" target="”_blank”">here</a>, <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/315" target="”_blank”">here</a>, and <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/311" target="”_blank”">here</a>). <br>
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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.<br>
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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.<br>
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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."<br>
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Sadly, the big issue today, according to <a href="http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/topstories/index.ssf/2008/10/corzines_eth…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Star-Ledger</a>, 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.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
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