Township Committee amends pay-to-play code

BY LINDA DeNICOLA
Staff Writer

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — Anti-corruption legislation adopted by the Township Committee earlier this year was amended in late September in order to eliminate a loophole.

"The ordinance was amended because we discovered a loophole that made it possible for a person to give money to the county government committee that could eventually go to a local campaign committee," said Township Administrator Tom Antus.

The new wording in section 5-22A.2 Prohibition on Awarding Public Contracts to Certain Contributors prevents any professional business entity from making contributions to any Freehold Township municipal party committee or to any county party committee in Monmouth County, in excess of the thresholds specified.

Officials said Freehold Township was the first municipality out of 53 towns in Monmouth County to adopt the legislation that revises the township’s personnel ordinance and sets the maximum amounts professional business entities can contribute politically and places new restrictions on the awarding of professional contracts.

The new section, 5-22A, of the personnel ordinance was necessary because, as stated in the ordinance, "there is a potential for professional business entities to make substantial political contributions to the election campaigns of the local government elected officers who are ultimately responsible for awarding professional service contracts."

The revisions included changing the number of votes it would take to repeal the ordinance from three to four of the five-member Township Committee and added an additional year, from one to two, to the number of years that a professional services contractor would be disqualified if it was found to have violated the law pertaining to contributions.

Committee members also expanded the definition of professional services to include political action committee (PAC) contributions and added that contributions to the county are acceptable as long as no similar contribution comes to the township from the county.

At the time of the adoption of the original ordinance in May, Heather Taylor, communications director for Common Cause, read a prepared statement at the meeting supporting the proposed anti-pay-to-play ordinance.

"First and foremost, I would like to thank the mayor and committee for addressing the issue of pay-to-play, which is the all-too-common practice in which campaign contributions are traded for government contracts. The ordinance (the committee adopted) is designed to sever the link between contributions and contracts and ensure that merit and cost-effectiveness drive the process for selecting professional consultants.

"Pay-to-play may not be the standard practice in Freehold Township, which makes this initiative even more laudable. If the Township Committee passes this ordinance, it will send a clear message to the citizens of Freehold Township that their officials are committed to preserving open and fair government," Taylor said.

In addition to Common Cause, so-called "pay to play" statewide legislation has received the support of a number of groups including the New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club; the Communication Workers of America; the League of Women Voters; and the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group.

The Green Party of New Jersey also endorses the legislation, which has not yet been acted upon by the members of the state Legislature.