Background:
Pay-to-Play is the basis for government corruption,
high taxes, and poor services. It is the
vehicle to keep bad incumbents in office.
Pay-to-Play reform is a discussion that seems to be
taking place everywhere right now EXCEPT Lodi.
The Record made Pay-to-Play reform a main reason for its endorsement of
Bergen County Freeholder Maura Denicola this week.
October 8,
2013:
At the Lodi Council Executive Meeting, the “CFO”
Charles Cuccia answered “No” to #5 and then added, “Most town don’t”. He then provided the comment on the questionnaire, “The Borough complies
with State statues”.
The State doesn’t have a real pay-to-play ordinance. Even the state comptroller did a report
showing how the “fair and open” loophole makes the state statue
meaningless. Therefore, government entities
need to pass their own ordinances to address the matter.
Charles Cuccia is the FULL TIME BOROUGH ADMINISTRATOR of
Saddle River. He had a great opportunity
to present Saddle River’s pay-to-play ordinance at the October 8th
meeting as an example to at least address the "fair and open" loophole. He chose not to.
I guess Lodi has a dictatorship under Tony Luna and
any positive ideas from other towns are forbidden.Here is Saddle River’s ordinance addressing pay-to-play. It does NOT eliminate pay-to-play abuse altogether, but it does eliminate the “fair and open” loophole. If this ordinance were on the books for Lodi in 2011, many of Lodi’s professional service providers would have been prohibited from receiving their No-Bid Contracts.
Chapter
55: POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS
[HISTORY: Adopted by the
Mayor and Council of the Borough of Saddle River 11-13-2006 by Ord.
No. 06-801-C. Editor's
Note: This ordinance was originally adopted as Ch. 66 but was renumbered to maintain
the organization of the Code. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
§ 55-1. Prohibition on awarding public contracts to certain
contributors.
A. Any other provision
of law to the contrary notwithstanding, the municipality or any of its
purchasing agents or agencies or those of its independent authorities, as the
case may be, shall not enter into an agreement or otherwise contract to procure
professional, banking, or any other consulting services, including those awarded pursuant to a
"fair and open" process, from any professional business entity
if that entity has solicited or made any contribution of money or pledge of a
contribution, including in-kind contributions, to any Saddle River municipal
candidate or holder of the public office having ultimate responsibility for the
award of the contract, or campaign committee supporting such candidate or
officeholder, or to any Saddle River party committee, or independent
organizations or to any political action committee (PAC) that regularly engages
in the support of Saddle River municipal elections and/or municipal parties or
independent organizations in excess of the thresholds specified in Subsection D
within one calendar year immediately preceding the date of the contract or
agreement.
B. No professional
business entity which enters into negotiations for or agrees to any contract or
agreement with the municipality or any department or agency thereof or of its
independent authorities for the rendition of professional, banking or any other
consulting services, including those awarded pursuant to a "fair and
open" process, shall solicit or make any contribution of money or pledge
of a contribution, including in-kind contributions, to any Saddle River
municipal candidate or holder of the public office having ultimate
responsibility for the award of the contract, or campaign committee supporting
such candidate or officeholder, or to any Saddle River party committee, or to
any political action committee (PAC) that regularly engages in the support of
Saddle River municipal elections and/or municipal parties or independent
organizations between the time of first communications between that business
entity and the Borough regarding a specific professional services agreement and
the later of the termination of negotiations or the completion of the contract
or agreement.
C. For purposes of this
chapter, a "professional business entity" seeking a public contract
means an individual, including the individual's spouse, if any, firm;
corporation; professional corporation; partnership; organization; or
association. The definition of a business entity includes all principals who
own 10% or more of the equity in the corporation or business trust, partners,
and officers in the aggregate employed by the entity as well as any
subsidiaries directly controlled by the business entity.
D. Any individual
meeting the definition of "professional business entity" under this
section may annually contribute a maximum of $300 each for any purpose to any
candidate for Mayor or governing body, and/or $300 to the Saddle River party,
and/or $500 to a PAC referenced in this chapter, without violating Subsection A
of this section. However, any group of individuals meeting the definition of
"professional business entity" under this section, including such
principals, partners, and officers of the entity in the aggregate, may not
annually contribute for any purpose in excess of $2,500 to all Saddle River
candidates and officeholders with ultimate responsibility for the award of the
contract and all Saddle River political parties or independent organizations
and PACs referenced in this chapter combined, without violating Subsection A
of this section.
E. For purposes of this
section, the office that is considered to have ultimate responsibility for the
award of the contract shall be:
(1) The Saddle River
Council of the Borough of Saddle River, if the contract requires specific
approval from the Council.
(2) The Mayor of the
Borough of Saddle River, where the contract requires execution by the Mayor,
when a public officer who is responsible for the award of a contract is
appointed by the Mayor.
§ 55-2. Contributions made prior to effective date.
No contribution of money
or any other thing of value, including in-kind contributions, made by a
professional business entity to any municipal candidate for Mayor or Council or
municipal or PAC referenced in this chapter shall be deemed a violation of this
chapter, nor shall an agreement for property, goods, or services, of any kind
whatsoever, be disqualified thereby, if that contribution was made by the
professional business entity prior to the effective date of this chapter.
§ 55-3. Contribution statement by professional business
entity.
A. Prior to awarding any
contract or agreement to procure services, including banking with any
professional business entity, the Borough or any of its purchasing agents or
agencies, as the case may be, shall receive a sworn statement from the
professional business entity made under penalty of perjury that the bidder or
offeror has not made a contribution in violation of § 55-1 of this
chapter.
B. The professional
business entity shall have a continuing duty to report any violations of this
chapter that may occur during the negotiation or duration of a contract. The
certification required under this section shall be made prior to entry into the
contract or agreement with the Borough and shall be in addition to any other certifications
that may be required by any other provision of law.
§ 55-4. Return of excess contributions.
A professional business
entity contributing to a Borough candidate or officeholder or municipal or
independent organizations or PAC referenced in this chapter may cure a
violation of § 55-1 of this chapter, if, within 30 days after the
date on which the applicable ELEC Report is published, the professional
business entity shall notify the Borough in writing and seek and receive
reimbursement of a contribution from the Borough candidate, municipal or
political party, independent organizations or PAC referenced in this chapter.
Proof of said return must be provided to the Borough Clerk prior to the
execution of the proposed contract.
§ 55-5. Violations and penalties.
A. It shall be a breach
of the terms of the Saddle River professional service agreement for a business
entity to:
(1) Make or solicit a
contribution in violation of this chapter;
(2) Knowingly conceal or
misrepresent a contribution given or received;
(3) Make or solicit
contributions through intermediaries for the purpose of concealing or
misrepresenting the source of the contribution;
(4) Make or solicit any
contribution on the condition or with the agreement that it will be contributed
to a campaign committee of any candidate or holder of the public office of the
Borough of Saddle River;
(5) Fund contributions
made by third parties, including consultants, attorneys, family members, and
employees;
(6) Engage in any
exchange of contributions to circumvent the intent of this chapter; or
(7) Directly or
indirectly, through or by any other person or means, do any act which would
subject that entity to the restrictions of this chapter.
B. Furthermore, any
professional business entity that violates Subsection A(2) through (7)
shall be disqualified from eligibility for Saddle River contracts for the term
of the contract so authorized.
§ 55-6. Severability; repealer; applicability of state
statutes.
A. If any section,
subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this chapter is for any reason held
to be unconstitutional, invalid, or unenforceable by a court of competent
jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the remaining portions of this
chapter.
B. Any ordinance
inconsistent with the terms of this chapter is hereby repealed to the extent of
such inconsistency.
C. Any matters not specifically covered by the
provisions of this chapter shall be directed by the appropriate New Jersey
state statute covering public contracting N.J.S.A. 40A:11 et al., and political
contribution disclosures N.J.S.A. 19:44A et al.
