The 12th District Legislators are continuing their fight for ethics reform in the State of New Jersey, and are troubled with the complete lack of ethics bills being heard by the Senate and Assembly State Government Committees.
Senator Jennifer Beck, Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande agree that if ever there was a time to come down hard on ethics violations by elected officials and state employees, it is now.
“Ethical issues are economic issues,” said Beck. “With all of the recent public discussion about ‘double-dipping’ in the State pension system and outrageous overtime pay-outs, it is imperative that we understand how these two issues are inherently linked. If Governor Corzine is really interested in bringing New Jersey out of this recession on top, he’s got to stand up and stop allowing these abuses. All we’ve heard from him on this issue is silence, and that silence is deafening.”
Beck sits on the Senate State Government Committee, and Casagrande sits on the Assembly State Government Committee, and both agree that the lack of movement on ethics bills is a serious problem.
“I have sent several letters requesting that ethics bills get posted for hearings in front of the Committee,” said Casagrande, “as I know Senator Beck has done in the Senate. We’ve both gotten the same response, which is to say, no response at all. In fact, the June 8th committee meeting was cancelled, just when we might have been able to pass an ethics bill through that could have saved the State some money in time for budget. Instead, any and all ethics bills will have to wait until after the summer break for a hearing.”
“Governor Corzine ran on a platform of ‘End Pay-to-Play,’” said O’Scanlon. “Where is the Governor now? This is clearly a bipartisan issue, with ethics bills coming in from both sides of the aisle, and it’s baffling how we can be so far behind on this. Why is it okay for a corrupt public official to collect publically funded pension? By not putting bills that would prohibit these actions in front of committee for hearings, the message being sent is that we are fine with the way things are. We are not.”
Beck, O’Scanlon and Casagrande have each introduced several ethics bills and supported others focusing on such issues as creating an anti-pay-to-play law that would encompass every level of government from local to state, banning duel office-holding, and fixing the pension boosting that is running rampant among public employees.
“I call on Governor Corzine to do the right thing,” said Beck. “Stop the lip-service, Governor, and join the public call for action on these ethics bills.”
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July 30, 2009
