Bergen County Pay-To-Play Marching Band

by: Bill Orr

Tue Sep 13, 2011 at 04:30:00 PM EDT

When I was a young boy,
My father took me into the city
To see a marching band...
He said "Will you defeat them,
The plans that they have made?"
My Chemical Romance: The Black Parade

The hoped for sea change last November with voters throwing out Democrats and placing a majority of Republicans on the BC Board has produced only more of the same. On September 7 six freeholders voted during a first of three readings to support a plan that provides minor improvements but continues the so-called "fair and open process" which is so vague that it perpetuates pay-to-play - particularly among moneyed professionals. Heather Taylor of the Citizens Campaign, which also advocates for campaign finance reform, points out "Business entities will be able to give up to the current limit, which is $37,000 - that's per year to a county party. That would be continuing business as usual." State law permits the "fair and open process" loophole, but it should be ended. With no sign of legislators rescinding it, the simplest method of stopping pay-to-play in county and municipal government is to adopt the Citizens Campaign model ordinance for public contracting.

Without citizen activists quickly contacting their freeholders the answer to the question posed in the lyrics, "Will you defeat them, The plans that they have made?" is an emphatic NO! And this Band will continue marching to the tune of those who seek government business by making large donations, in concert with the politicians who acquiesce and wallow in the spoils.