Beck, O’Scanlon & Casagrande Call for All NJ Legislators to Put Aside Partisan Politics and Finally Pass Real Ethics Reform

August 6, 2009

Contact: Layli Whyte / (732) 933-1591
District 12

Senator Jennifer Beck, Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, Jr. and Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande today sent letters to every State Legislator requesting support and sponsorship of two bills that will address the existing loophole, which allows public officials convicted of corruption crimes to receive pensions for public positions they held that were unrelated to the crime committed.

“If an official holds more than one public position,” said O’Scanlon, “and is convicted of a crime touching only one of those positions, any pensions for which they might be eligible from other positions remain in place. Taxpayers are now in a situation where they are paying pensions for corrupt public officials. This is simply wrong. We, the members of the New Jersey Legislature, need to take a stand and send the clear message that if you betray the public trust, the public will not pay your pension benefits.”

Ethics reform has been the focus of the duration of Beck, O’Scanlon and Casagrande’s terms in office. With the most recent round of arrests for corruption crimes, which included 21 elected and appointed officials, they believe the time has come for partisan politics to take a back seat, and for real ethics reform to finally come to pass.

“We’ve reached out to all State Legislators, on both sides of the aisle, to stand up for what’s right,” said Casagrande. “We can’t legislate away people’s bad decision-making, but we certainly can make it less comfortable for them. This is a time for partisanship to be put aside. We need to make a statement to the rest of the world that New Jersey will not sit idly by as our reputation of one of the most corrupt states in the union continues to grow.”

The two bills, A-1444/S-686 and A-3432/S-2324, are sponsored by the 12th District Legislators, and represent an important step in protecting the public from further abuse by corrupt public officials. These bills will prohibit any official, elected or appointed, from collecting any public pension after being convicted of a crime of corruption. At least three of the elected officials arrested in this sting are eligible for public pensions from other positions held. If there are, indeed, convicted of these crimes, it is only fitting that the public not be forced to fund their retirements.

The current law governing pension benefits for a corrupt official only revokes benefits of the one position held when the crime took place, leaving any other public pension packages in tact. Also, the law only has influence over crimes committed after March 2007, regardless of when the facts of the crimes come to light.

“I have, on several occasions,” said Beck, “called upon Governor Corzine to be more vocal about his own ethics reform package. I have written requests that my own ethics legislation be posted to committee. Time and time again these requests have gone unanswered. Haven’t we seen enough to know that, when it comes to matter of right versus wrong, it doesn’t matter your party affiliation? We have to stand united against those who would betray the responsibility of their office and hinder the Democratic process.”

Beck, O’Scanlon and Casagrande have also requested support for ACR-130, a bipartisan proposed constitutional amendment that would require the automatic suspension of an elected official under indictment for corruption and, in the event of a conviction, the seat held by that official would become vacant. Casagrande is a co-sponsor of this legislation in the Assembly.

“There are so many ethics reform bills out there,” said Beck, “and if we’re going to change the perception of New Jersey in the eyes of the nation, it’s time we started passing them into law.”

In an effort to make some progress before the Legislature went on break in June, O’Scanlon made a motion for an emergency vote on A-1444, which was tabled along party lines in the General Assembly.

“Now,” said O’Scanlon, “after these disgraceful events, perhaps we can get some traction and make the changes New Jersey so desperately needs to see made.”