State Senate President Richard Codey is looking to kick of the year the right way. He announced today a sweeping package of bills that he says will “close some remaining loopholes (in existing ethics law), and we can begin to help restore the public’s confidence in government.”
That’s obviously necessary, given the questionable behavior of so many of our elected representatives.
According to a Live from the Ledger posting, the package will include:
— A complete ban on any meals, gifts or travel payments from lobbyists to lawmakers and their staffs;
— A ban on nepotism at every level of state and local government, including municipal governments and school boards;
— A requirement that any lawmaker or state agency seeking changes to the proposed state budget submit detailed written requests for the funding in time for them to be reviewed by the public before hearings on the state budget;
— An independent review of the Legislature’s Code of Ethics by Rutgers professor Alan Rosenthal, Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at the Eagleton Institute of Politics.
Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts endorsed the plan, according to the Ledger:
“Good, honest government should be something we don’t just strive for, but something we actually deliver,” Roberts said.
Let’s hope the pair follow through and the fixes actually fix things.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
Hank Kalet 