An ordinary commencement address

Brookdale Community College President Peter F. Burnham lost out on a sterling opportunity when he delivered an ordinary major graduation ethics address several weeks ago that glossed over the trauma and tragedy of the 2005 Monmouth County governmental corruption scandal and failed to disclose why he was giving the speech in the first place.

The president's remarks, "Ethical Leadership: The Challenge for our New Generation of Leaders," contained no words that scolded those local and statewide elected and appointed officials who violated the public trust.

There was no mention of the late longtime Monmouth County Republican Freeholder Director Harry Larrison Jr., charged with accepting bribes and for whom a Brookdale building was named in what has become a sizzling ethical controversy unto itself - one bound to become a legitimate November election issue. There also was no mention of the culture of corruption that Larrison helped create and that swirled around him.

Burnham attempted to offer the graduates what amounted to generic advice to practice the highest forms of truth, honesty and integrity without resorting to becoming part of a witch hunt similar to the McCarthy "Red/Communist scare of the 1950s; the post-Watergate era and the current debates of suspension of civil rights in the post-9/11 era in which we live."

He's right. But Larrison and his cronies do not belong in those categories. Besides, Larrison disappointed so many citizens who had faith in him.

"Because we have been inundated with examples of the failures of ethical leadership in our contemporary society," Burnham said, "we have been inundated with calls by self-righteous pundits for 'purification' from corruption that smacks of overzealous and dangerous generalization."

That was his way of trying to defend keeping a tainted academic building named after Larrison.

It was not a memorable commencement talk nor one that won Burnham any "profiles in courage" award. It was a safe speech, according to the text, without the president offending any public officials.

It was carried on the Brookdale Web site, made no headlines and generated little comment. It could serve as the basis for any community college president's ethics address any place across the land. But the one here desperately cried out for a local angle.

Not generally known is that the talk was brokered by state Assemblywoman Amy H. Handlin (R-Monmouth), who years ago as a member of the board of freeholders single-handedly began moving county government down a muchneeded road to reform. For that, she deserved a "profiles in courage" award.

When Handlin saw she was not having success with Burnham and his board of trustees to have Larrison Hall renamed, she compromised and opted to at least bring about some educational ethics programs to benefit Brookdale students, faculty and the general public.

A graduation ethics talk by Burnham became a part of the equation with Handlin herself preparing for what should be a significant seminar in the fall to detail the evils of corruption and power gone amok at the county level.

"They still know how I feel about Larrison Hall," she said. "The issue must be kept in the forefront," adding she also is seeking the start of an annual Brookdale public lecture "to remind future generations of the inestimable damage caused by political corruption - perhaps to be named after Christopher J. Christie, the hard-driving U.S. attorney crime buster for New Jersey.

It was Christie who charged Larrison with official corruption before the politician died a few weeks later in 2005. The case never went to trial.

Still, Larrison was one of the big fish caught in the first FBI sweep in its Operation Bid Rig investigation that led to the arrest of 11 officials in the county that year. Christie's statewide record is also solid. He has posted 126 convictions of corrupt officials in the last six years.

Yet, Burnham in his prepared remarks, registered concern that "the threat of predetermined judgment, without full evidence or the guarantee of due process can lead to a corruption of the basic principles which make this nation as great as our 'Founding Fathers' intended it to be."

His concern was noble - but what took place in Operation Bid Rig and before was enough to have Larrison's name removed from the building. Larrison brought an ethical nightmare and an ethical disaster to the county. Now, try as they may, Burnham and his board of trustees can no longer make excuses to keep the building as a Larrison monument.

Fortunately, the issue will be raised again during the November election campaign as the winds of change continue to make their impact felt in county government and with the college board of trustees.

But it is Red Bank Councilman John Curley, a Republican seeking election to the freeholders board with a refreshing streak of political independence, who best summed up the Larrison Hall situation at its core:

"Monmouth County needs to go through a cleansing. I personally would like to see the name changed. Too many people are still indebted to Harry Larrison" - and, unfortunately, that was and is part of the problem. Yet, that is the message that should stand out today for Brookdale's graduates and for all Monmouth County citizens. Indeed, a new ethical day is dawning.

Arthur Z. Kamin, Fair Haven, is an independent journalist and has taught journalism and English as a Brookdale adjunct instructor.