Keeping the professionals out of campaign financing

Councilman offers ordinance designed to prevent firms with township contracts from contributing to political campaigns.

By: Sharlee Joy DiMenichi
   Political campaign contributions and no-bid municipal contracts for professional services should not mix, according to an ordinance Councilman Ted Van Hessen proposed at a council reorganization meeting Saturday.
   Mr. Van Hessen said Tuesday that he suggested the ordinance in response to recent federal investigations of campaign-related corruption in New Jersey. Mr. Van Hessen said Essex County Executive James Treffinger was indicted in October and charged with extorting a contractor and other crimes.
   Mr. Van Hessen said he wants to create such a distinct separation between campaign contributions and the awarding of contracts that it would be impossible for ethics questions to arise.
   "I think that this is a good case of preventive medicine," Mr. Van Hessen said Tuesday.
   Under the ordinance, the council would not be allowed to award no-bid professional services contracts to companies whose owners or employees have contributed to political parties, committees or candidates in the two years prior, according to a statement Mr. Van Hessen distributed.
   The law also would prohibit companies that hold no-bid municipal contracts from making political contributions for two years.
   If the ordinance passes, people and companies seeking professional services contracts would have to disclose all political contributions.
   In a competitive bidding process, anyone in the public may submit a sealed bid on a municipal contract and bids are unsealed and announced publicly. Competitive bidding requires the council to award the contract to the lowest bidder unless council members offer evidence that the lowest bidder is unqualified.
   State law requires competitive bidding for non-professional contracts, but contracts for professional services, such as legal and engineering work, can be awarded without bidding.
   Township Manager Barbara Sacks said the state law allows municipalities to choose professional services based on the performance and specialty of the providers, not on the price. Competitive bidding for non-professional services sometimes leaves communities at a disadvantage, Ms. Sacks said.
   "Competitive bidding gets you the cheapest, but not necessarily the best. Every time I get into an elevator in a municipal building, I say to myself ‘cross your fingers because this was put in by the lowest competitive bidder,’" Ms. Sacks said.
   Mr. Van Hessen said he hopes the ordinance will be placed on the council agenda in January and that he expects council members to support the initiative.
   "I don’t think there will be opposition from a philosophical view," Mr. Van Hessen said.
   Mayor Frank Gambatese said Tuesday the council needs to finish discussing the 2003 budget before considering Mr. Van Hessen’s proposal.
   Mr. Van Hessen said Tuesday that while the ordinance addresses issues of statewide concern, he does not believe there is corruption in the township government.
   "I have no reason to believe that anything untoward has happened in South Brunswick. The one thing I am not trying to do is point fingers at anybody for any reason," Mr. Van Hessen said.