We cannot always vote into public office honest people who work hard in our legislatures, but we certainly can vote people out of office who are not honest or who do not work hard, whatever their philosophy.

Betsy Combier

October 22, 2004
A Scramble in New Jersey to Back 'Pay to Play' Bills
By LAURA MANSNERUS, NY TIMES

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TRENTON, Oct. 21 - In a sudden effort to fortify ethics legislation that they enacted just four months ago, New Jersey legislators are competing to lead a campaign to cut off political contributions by companies that do business with government.

Leaders in both parties are pushing to write into law restrictions on "pay to play" politics that Gov. James E. McGreevey issued by executive order last month, restrictions that effectively overrode the Legislature's weaker measure. On Thursday, the Assembly speaker, Albio Sires, announced that he would bring the tougher proposal to a floor vote on Monday, and Senate President Richard J. Codey, a fellow Democrat, said he would propose even stronger measures.

The swift action to suddenly toughen a measure that legislators spent months debating reflects a change in the political climate as Democrats rush to get in front of an issue that may loom prominently in races for governor and the Assembly next year.

In fact, New Jersey legislators might have backed themselves into adopting some of the strongest restrictions in the nation on government contracts for political donors. And in jumping to the fore, the Democrats risk choking off some of their own money.

"This is like a runaway train now," said one Democratic consultant, who would not speak for attribution. "I really believe the Republicans were just posturing, but they painted themselves into a corner, too."

At the same time, he said, Democrats came to realize after the governor's order that "the only people this is going to bother are the nincompoops who can't figure out a way to get around it." Critics have complained of numerous loopholes in the governor's order.

Some Democrats are echoing longstanding Republican proposals to ban government contracts for political donors at every level of government. And this week, committees in both houses quickly approved bills allowing local governments to enact their own pay-to-play measures, which the Democrats had foreclosed in their legislative package four months ago. In the meantime, two municipal governments, Hoboken and Lawrence Township, put measures on the Nov. 2 ballot after petition drives over the summer.

In announcing his executive order on Sept. 22, Governor McGreevey issued a public appeal to end the "corrosive and cancerous" practice of rewarding big campaign contributors with government contracts. The order prohibited the awarding of state contracts to companies that had donated to gubernatorial candidates or to state or county party organizations - which together raised more than $45 million just for legislative elections last year.

This week, the issue re-emerged when the Office of Legislative Services said in a legal opinion that Mr. McGreevey's executive order presented constitutional problems, since the Legislature had already spoken on the subject of government contracts for political contributors.

But the political necessities were already clear, said David Rebovich, the director of the Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University. "The perception that McGreevey's administration was bought and paid for, or that he was, and his saying, 'I allowed myself to be victimized by the system,' reinforced people's views about New Jersey," Mr. Rebovich said.

"Democrats are worried that this is the most powerful theme that Republicans could use in 2005."

Even before Mr. McGreevey's executive order, United States Senator Jon S. Corzine, discussing a possible candidacy for governor in 2005, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he could "bring some orderliness" to a state sorely in need of "credible, honest government."

Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University, said the Democrats would need a pre-emptive strike for good government next year. "To the extent that Corzine is Mr. Clean, and to the extent that somebody as rich as Croesus can't be bribed, it's of tremendous benefit to him," Mr. Baker said.

Other possible Democratic candidates have also seized upon the pay-to-play issue. Senator Codey, for one, who is to succeed Mr. McGreevey when the governor steps down next month, said Thursday that he would introduce a bill on Monday to codify the executive order and would soon propose restrictions on the transfer of campaign funds from county to county, a practice that has allowed well-financed Democrats to funnel millions of dollars into close races.

Even Democrats who had resisted a comprehensive pay-to-play ban in the spring were supportive of the governor's executive order. "The ground has shifted radically," said Assemblyman Michael J. Panter of Monmouth County, a sponsor of the measure, who in June was one of four Democrats to defy party leaders by voting against the weaker pay-to-play bill.

It is still not clear, however, whether Democrats will back the comprehensive plan that Republicans have advocated unsuccessfully for three years that would apply the pay-to-play restrictions beyond state government to county and municipal governments.

Senator Tom Kean Jr. of Union County, an original sponsor of comprehensive pay-to-play legislation - and a possible Republican gubernatorial candidate next year - said Republicans might once again request a floor vote to force their proposal out of committee.

"Either it happens this fall or it doesn't," Senator Kean said, "and if it doesn't happen, the majority party is at fault."

At the same time, while the status of local pay-to-play ordinances remains in question, almost 30 local governments have prohibited the awarding of most contracts to political donors.

In Hoboken, the issue has produced a petition campaign by citizens groups and a court fight over the initiative to put the issue to voters on the Nov. 2 ballot.

At a meeting of the divided City Council on Wednesday night, Ann Graham, a leader in the petition campaign conducted by the group People for Open Government, complained to the members that "through every step of this process you have thrown up roadblocks." Another member of the group, Ron Hine, read a list of contributors and their city contracts, concluding, "The bigger the contract, the bigger the contributions."

Records gathered by Ms. Graham's group show that of about $1.4 million that local Democratic candidates have raised since 2001, more than $400,000 came from vendors who had city contracts during that time. Most of the rest, Ms. Graham said, came from companies that do business with the city, including developers and lawyers.

Mayor David Roberts, who controls the local Democratic committees, said he would support the measure but added, "You cannot legislate honesty and integrity in government. I will vote yes and I will sign the law, but let's not kid ourselves."

"We know that there is a huge public corruption problem in New Jersey"

"527" Groups Need Transparency and Accountability: New Jersey Governor McGreevy Calls For A Return to Political Integrity