The Asbury Park Press offers some tough talk on pay-to-play, as a top Democrat calls for a relaxation on rules put in place two years ago. The Democrat — state party Chairman Joe Cryan — says the rules are drying campaign funding. The Press responds this way: “Hey, Joe! That was the whole point: To prevent contractors from making political contributions to candidates in exchange for government contracts.”
Hard to argue. But Cryan’s basic point — that the shrivelling campaign accounts will leave the field only to those candidates wealthy enough to fund their own campaigns — is worth considering.
But the answer is not to gut the current rules. As the Press points out:
Pay-to-play is a scourge that has cost taxpayers in this state billions of dollars in inflated no-bid contracts. It also has helped produce public policy driven by what’s best for large campaign contributors rather than what’s best for the citizens of New Jersey.
The answer is to tighten them while crafting a real and effective public-financing scheme.
The South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
Hank Kalet 