Petition drive pushes on
By JENNIFER KELLEY
Cherry Hill Sun
6/18/2007

Pay-to-Play Reform Committee continues effort to put issue on November ballot

Members of the Cherry Hill Pay-to-Play Reform Committee have been fanning out over the township for the past several weeks, knocking on doors and explaining an ordinance they’ve submitted to Council that would ban “pay-to-play” politics – a practice in which public officials award lucrative, no-bid government contracts to businesses and organizations in exchange for large political contributions.

While the group has decided not to release the exact number of names they’ve gathered on a petition that could force the measure onto the November General Election ballot, committee member Roxanne Shinn told The Sun it has well more than 600 signatures, noting residents have been quite receptive to the committee and its proposal, which ultimately needs 2,500 signatures.

The nonpartisan civic group of about 35 residents presented the proposed ordinance to Council members on May 14 and outlined strict guidelines that would limit political contributions and stem the potential for pay to play.

State law requires municipalities to adopt fair and open procedures for awarding service contracts, but in recent years, a number of New Jersey towns have adopted more restrictive local ordinances that go above and beyond the state’s vague requirements to prevent local corruption – namely, they set limits on what professional entities may contribute politically, beyond which they become ineligible to receive a professional service contract from the respective municipality.

The Center for Civic Responsibility, a nonpartisan organization based in Metuchen that provides citizens with the legal tools to exercise their power in local politics and decision-making, offers a strong, five-page model pay-to-play ordinance as a download on its Web site that 48 New Jersey municipalities have based their pay-to-play laws on, said Heather Taylor, the organization’s communications director.

Cherry Hill’s Pay-to-Play Reform Committee based its proposed ordinance on the Center for Civic Responsibility’s model as well. It limits the amount a professional business entity can donate to any Cherry Hill candidate, Council member, mayor or party committee to $300 annually and caps the amount that an aggregate of business entities can contribute at $2,500.

The township was first presented with the ordinance in December of 2005 and officials have been reviewing it ever since, said Bob Shinn, who heads the committee. In January 2006, Council members adopted a “Fair and Open Process” resolution – required by state law at the start of the year – that dictates the public advertisement of contract bids the township is considering. At the time of its passage, the Center for Civic Responsibility deemed the mandated ordinance a “smoke screen” that masked the need for a stronger pay-to-play ban.

When presented with the proposed pay-to-play ordinance last month, Council President Frank Falcone asked Councilman Steve Polansky to examine it in conjunction with the township’s legal department, and, at the May 14 meeting, Polansky noted that he had just begun to do so. The review, he said, would include evaluating any similar ordinances enacted by other townships and examining the constitutionality of such an ordinance.

The Center for Civic Responsibility has its own volunteer group of attorneys and retired judges that makes its legal task force. It has released numerous memos over the past few years regarding pay to play and how the laws governing it have withstood the scrutiny of the courts.

Taylor said the task force has repeatedly reported that such ordinances have “solid constitutional underpinnings,” noting that the state has a strong law – similar to the model ordinance used by reform committee – regarding state contracts.

Polansky was unavailable for comment as of press time.

Representatives from the committee will be available to take the signatures of registered voters from Cherry Hill at the entrance to the Cherry Hill Public Library and the entrance to the Springdale Farm Shopping Center on June 16, from noon to 3 p.m., June 20, from 5 to 8 p.m. and June 21, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. In addition, Shinn said community members are invited to attend the committee’s June 27 meeting in the lower-level conference room of the library, from 7 to 9 p.m., at which there will also be an opportunity to sign the petition.

For more information of the Cherry Hill Pay-to-Play Reform Committee or the proposed ordinance, contact Bob Shinn at 428-8672, or visit www.stoppaytoplay.org and www.jointhecampaign.com.