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Zero Tolerance *

Cronyism and corruption. These are not words that should ever be associated with public service and yet, too often, they are.

Politicians elected by their fellow citizens to improve the quality of life for their constituents too often end up taking advantage of their office for personal gain.

Taxpayers who believe their hard-earned money is going toward improving schools, roads and public safety instead learn that it is being spent to line the pockets of the connected few.

It does not have to be this way.

As New Jersey’s capital city, Trenton must be a beacon to the rest of the state based on our diversity, the strength of our residents and the industry of our neighbors.

The next mayor of Trenton will not only have to clean up the mess left to him or her, but will have to restore the faith and trust Trentonians have rightly lost in their municipal government…

Ooops!!!!

I should have written all of the above in quotes. By not doing so, you might have imagined that I wrote this.

Sorry about any misunderstanding!

These words are actually from Candidate Eric Jackson, published as an op-ed in the Trenton Times, waaaaaay back in March when he was telling voters that this city needed a leader with “zero tolerance for corruption,” and that he was that leader.

Re-reading the op-ed, I keep looking for an asterisk after “zero tolerance,” but I can’t find it. Because this morning, it sure does look like the intent of Mr. Jackson’s bold declaration is that “zero tolerance” sure means “zero tolerance, *(unless there is a legal loophole the size of Texas available).”

Yesterday, I pointed out that the folks who run a Political Action Committee (PAC) that wrote a check for $8200 to Eric Jackson’s mayoral campaign in February – including the same guy who probably signed the check – were in line to get a $20,000 legal services contract from the City of Trenton, through their law firm. To me, this seemed like a pretty clear-cut violation of the City’s Pay-to-Play Ordinance (P2P), posing  a conflict of interest that to me would require under the terms of that law refusal of the contract by our City Council.

Actually, in a way the guy who signed the check agrees with me. “I think it is a perceived conflict,” Albert Marmero told Jenna Pizzi of the Times in today’s article. Mr. Marmero is the Treasurer of the “Initiate Civic Empowerment” PAC (ICE PAC), as well as a name partner of the law firm Long Marmero & Associates, up for a new $20,000 contract with the City.

But, according to Marmero, it’s only the perception of a conflict or violation, not a real one. Since none of the law firm’s actual funds went into the PAC during a time period that would fall under our city’s P2P law, it is entirely legal for his law firm to be eligible for this new contract.

Trenton‘s new Law Director, David Minchello, himself a personal contributor to Mr. Jackson’s campaign, agrees. As does Heather Taylor, a spokesperson for the Citizens Campaign, the organization who provided the language for the P2P ordinance that was presented to, and approved by, Trenton’s voters in 2006. In the Times article today, Ms. Taylor characterizes the circumstance under which this kind of arrangement can be considered legal a “loophole” in the law. A loophole attributable to the fact that “Since the ordinance was passed in 2006, the scope and range of PACs in the state’s political landscape has changed,” according to Ms. Taylor as reported in the Times.

Taylor and Citizens Campaign hold out a “solution” to this situation, offering “new legislation is available to citizens or elected officials who want to propose an update to the law.”

Closing this loophole would be a good thing. Because it is madness to me that individuals who wear one hat to operate a PAC, and who select recipients for what can be sizable contributions – $8,200 in the case of Eric Jackson, the maximum permitted by NJ state law – and who sign checks for those sizable contributions can also be eligible for contracts from those recipients when wearing another corporate hat, at the same address no less!

That’s not the situation that I foresaw when I voted for this law in 2006. I can’t imagine other voters had the same situation in mind, either.

So where do we go from here? With everyone acknowledging this situation is due to a loophole, we can seek to tighten it up. Trenton’s City Council can take this up and easily amend the law, using Citizens Campaign’s new model language as a starting point. If Council fails to do so, citizens can do what we did in 2006, and get a new, tighter law on the books.

In fact, it might be better if we as citizens do it ourselves, and not rely on Council or the Administration to do what’s right. Because, as citizens, we must take ownership of our government and not leave it up to others to do.

Dang!

I forgot to use quotations again!! That part about “as citizens, we must take ownership of our government and not leave it up to others to do?” That was Eric Jackson again, from his March op-ed.

Oh. By the way, elsewhere in that same op-ed, he described “some immediate steps Trenton’s next mayor can take on Day One to help restore the public trust;” namely, “I believe the first act of business must be to create the position of independent inspector general.” [Emphasis mine – KM]

I didn’t think much of the idea at the time (still don’t;), but hey! it was Mr. Jackson’s idea. We are now on Day 36, not Day One. Still no Inspector General, hmmm??

Candidate Jackson also favored “preserving strong anti-pay-to-play regulations.”

Here’s the perfect opportunity to strengthen them, Mayor Jackson!

What do you say? Up for it?

2 comments to Zero Tolerance *

  • Dallas Dixon

    Any lawyer will tell you that it is a conflict if there is a reasonable perception that there is one. The loophole defense is a deception created probably by an advisor. Mayor beware.

  • Kevin

    Thanks, Dallas – I agree, a “perceived” problem, IS a problem.