NewJerseyNewsroom.COM
Wednesday July 29^th, 2009
By Joe Tyrrell

New Jersey government has more ethics than it knows what to do with. Even before last week's round-up of politicians and their associates on corruption charges, activists and academic were pushing to streamline the state's multi-player system for protecting the public trust.

Despite the arrests, which included two legislators, some observers credit Gov. Jon Corzine and state Senate President Richard Codey for toughening state ethics rules in Trenton. Democrats point to a string of steps Corzine has taken to fight corruption in Trenton, such as tightening restrictions on pay-to-play in state government. But Republicans are still critical. Many observers said large loopholes remain at many levels of government.

In New Jersey, a welter of committees, boards, commissions and agencies all have something to say about ethics. But none have the final word."You're not even sure who's regulating what half the time," said Harry Pozycki, a founder of the Center for Civic Responsibility, whose Citizens Campaign has pushed for bans on "pay to play," the tradition of awarding public contracts to political contributors. "It's confusing for the citizens," said Ingrid Reed, director of the New Jersey Project at Rutgers University's Eagleton Institute, and the author of a new study on state ethics (PDF AVAILABLE HERE)."Other states have what I call an integrated ethics program, which applies to everybody," Reed said.But in New Jersey, "if you enter 'ethics' on the state website, you get the State Ethics Commission," which applies only to state government, she said.

Election questions may go to the state Election Law Enforcement Commission. County or local or school issues may go to the state Local Finance Board, to local commissions or simply fall through the cracks."Money is where it starts," said former state Sen. William Schluter, who serves on the State Ethics Commission. "Forty-one other states prohibit corporations from giving money to candidates, but not New Jersey."

Even where controls exist, the state is falling behind. The Local Finance Board is part of the state Department of Community Affairs. It consists of powerful political players, former DCA directors, former gubernatorial and legislative chiefs of staff. Much of its work entails high-profile issues, such as taking over the finances of debt-ridden Hoboken.

Yet the LFB is also the backstop for ethics questions from around the state, handling complaints from the majority of towns and counties that lack their own ethics boards, and appeals from those that have them.

"The whole issue of staff I think is important, because the (DCA) Division of Local Government Services has been decimated," Reed said. "There's one person in that office who works on ethics."The Local Finance Board has a backlog of cases and seldom finds violations of ethical codes. New Jerseyans who hunt the state website will not find another group intended to improve ethical oversight. Last September, Corzine issued an executive order establishing a task force on local government ethics. But then, silence. Activists said they do not know what happened to it.

Reed, who has just been through a round of meetings with administration officials and legislators about her report, said the task force did not come up.  Corzine's office did not respond to a question about the status of the group. His executive order is available here.

Schluter, a Republican gerrymandered out of a seat because of his independent streak, said he could support ELEC retaining control over election finances, but other ethical issues "should all come under one commission." "There should be one standard, and the members should be independently appointed, by a panel of ex-judges or something, so you don't just have the usual political sidekicks," Schluter said.

Although he is supporting Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie, he praised Corzein's choice for lieutenant governor, state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen). She sponsored successful legislation to provide more information about party committee seats, and supported one to list local appointed offices for the public.

Party committee decisions were responsible for seating 40 percent of the current Legislature, who were initially chosen to fill vacancies. Meanwhile, local contracts are often the point where money changes hands, Schluter said.

"Money is the machine in politics," Schluter said. "It's the source of power."

Another one of Weinberg's bills, to strengthen the state Sunshine Law, the Open Public Meetings Act, has been languishing in committee, without the weight of the Governor or the Democratic leadership behind it. On their own, New Jerseyans inclined to take matters into their own hands are finding it harder to exert oversight over government. The state Government Records Council, established to mediate disputes over access to public records, has just lost a lawsuit for illegally withholding its own records.

The council has taken an increasingly hard line against records requestors. That comes during a period when the Governor has not filled two of the three public seats on the commission, leaving voting control in the hands of his administration, representatives of the DCA and state Department of Education.

More than anyone in the state, John Paff of Franklin Township sees the problems firsthand. As chairman of the Libertarian Party's Open Government Task Force, he has for years followed the quixotic path of requesting public documents, looking for meeting minutes, examining attorney discipline and posing ethics questions to public bodies throughout the state.

Speaking about ethical oversight for attorneys and local and county government, Paff said he wonders what they were designed to do. "If they were intended to actually punish wrongdoing, I think they fail miserably," he said. "And while I hope that I don't sound overly cynical, I believe that a decent argument could be made that neither system was intended to ferret out unethical conduct and discipline the perpetrators," he said. "Rather, these systems were intended to placate the public and create an illusion that lawyers and politicians are actually subject to oversight."

"New Jersey has the most educated citizens in the country, that's a fact," said Pozycki, a former Middlesex County Democratic chairman and freeholder. "But people are absolutely clueless about how the system works."

Through forums, free classes and a handbook, his group has been educating New Jerseyans about the way local government works, and has launched a "call to service for volunteers to get involved. More information is available here. www.jointhecampaign.com/

Pozycki said the effort has gained surprising traction in major cities, where more residents are seeking places on local boards. In Newark, Mayor Corey Booker revived some idle boards, started an environmental commission, and has help teach civic empowerment classes.

Luminaries such as former Gov. Tom Kean and retired New York Giants star Bart Oates have joined the group's initiative to hold a "service summit." Like other reformers, though, Pozycki said the spate of political arrests "makes me embarrassed."

Schluter said it is puzzling that so much of New Jersey corruption is straightforward, unembellished cash-and-carry. He looked back a century to the distinction New York State Sen. George Washington Plunkitt, a Tamany Hall chief, made in corruption. Plunkitt said he did not need to indulge in "dishonest" graft, because he got enough inside information in the normal course of government business. "There's an honest graft, and I'm an example of how it works," Plunkitt said. "I might sum up the whole thing by saying, 'I seen my opportunities and I took 'em.'" New Jersey's current malefactors "don't seem to understand the difference," Schluter said.