COURIER-POST STAFF EDITORIAL- August 30, 2010

Legislation on gifts and travel from two South Jersey lawmakers should become law.

In light of the recent revelations about a Delaware River Port Authority executive abusing a perk by letting his daughter use another DRPA employee's allotted free bridge crossings, it seems reform is on the agenda again in New Jersey. That's always a good thing.

But often, the reforms that come of such affairs don't amount to much, and things tend to slide back to the way they've always been.

Two South Jersey legislators, however, are proposing a wide set of new rules and prohibitions that, if implemented, would do much to curtail the potential for those in government to be corrupted and use their public positions to line their pockets through perks and gifts.

The legislation proposed by state Sen. Donald Norcross, D-Camden, and Assemblyman Paul Moriarty, D-Gloucester, is wide-ranging and sensible, so much so that every member of the Legislature ought to vote in favor of it.

Among the planks of Norcross' and Moriarty's proposal:

Ban expensive, publicly funded perks such as free E-ZPass transponders for employees of agencies and authorities, housing allowances for public college presidents and other public employees in New Jersey, luxury vehicle stipends and personal drivers and government-issued credit cards for officials throughout all levels of government in New Jersey.

Institute a zero tolerance policy on gifts for elected officials and all other public employees.

There's a good model to follow here; the state of Wisconsin has a complete ban on gifts of any value, be it a $500 watch or a 50-cent cup of coffee, from lobbyists to lawmakers. That legislation should be duplicated and widened to cover all public employees, elected and appointed.

Require the governor's office to approve for all executive branch employees as well as employees and board members of the state's autonomous agencies and state colleges and universities. Along with this, there would be a restructuring of the approval process for publicly funded travel for public employees in county and local governments, school districts and boards, commissions and fire districts.

The bottom line is that taxpayers' pockets are being picked clean by inflated taxes, all levels of government are facing budget crises due to the economy and heavy debt and, because of that, government simply can't foot the bill any longer for employees to be jetting off to conferences in Las Vegas, Orlando and elsewhere.

Officials shouldn't be able to circumvent the approval process, either, by having an outside donor or firm pay for travel. That's what too many elected officials in this state and in Washington did for years. Having a company or lobbying organization or someone else pay for a plane ticket, hotel room and other travel expenses is a gift, plain and simple, and must be banned.

Establish a revolving-door policy. This would mean any employee or board member in a decision-making role over public contracts would be barred from working for a vendor they hired as a public official for at least two years after leaving their government job.

To put teeth behind all these new bans, Norcross and Moriarty propose fines of up to $10,000 per offense and removal from office.

The maximum on fines could and ought to be higher, and there should be a means by which a public official could lose some or all of their pension depending on the severity of the violation.

But all in all these are all worthwhile reform measures that should be law. Unfortunately, there are too many people in government in this state who may not have got in for the wrong reasons, but are there now for all the wrong reasons. They crave only the perks, the gifts, the fat pensions from multiple jobs and anything else that will help fatten their wallets and let them live the high life on the backs of taxpayers.

New Jerseyans have little faith or trust in their politicians. Years of corruption and pay-to-play politics mean that it will take a long time for New Jerseyans to change that attitude. Reforms like these at least begin the process of restoring some small amount of faith. These measures ought to become state law.