Editorial: The problem with dual office holding.
Last year, when word got out that Monroe Mayor Richard Pucci had his own private consulting firm that did business for a political action committee, it raised questions about his loyalties.
What constituency came first for the mayor, who also served as chairman of the Monroe Democratic Party, acting chairman of the county party, executive director of the Middlesex County Improvement Authority and president of his own firm?
For Mayor Pucci, the answer was simple: Monroe’s residents were his first priority and always would be.
His answer, however, failed to quiet his critics, who have continued to raise questions about the mayor’s priorities.
Mayor Pucci is not alone. Questions about dual loyalties abound, with dozens of elected officials across the state holding down more than one public job including 18 state legislators who also hold a second elected position and several others who serve as school administrators or in other appointed positions.
The practice, known as dual-office holding, creates a conflict of interest, pitting loyalties against one another, ultimately stymieing efforts at reform.
New Jersey Policy Perspective in a June 2006 report produced in conjunction with Demos, a national public policy organization based in New York says there are "many reasons for concern."
In addition to creating a "built-in conflict situation," dual-office holding "insulates office holders from political accountability"; "frustrates the system of checks and balances among levels of government"; "is a form of political double-dipping"; "amplifies pork-barrel spending"; "blocks the political ladder to emerging aspirants"; "reinforces the state’s predilection for localism, parochialism and fragmentation"; and "creates ‘low-show’ jobs that divide the time and attention of elected officials."
The best example of this is the failure of the tax reform effort in the Legislature. Legislation that would ban legislators from holding a second elected office has stalled. Proposals that would have pushed municipal consolidation and expanded shared-service opportunities and created a new government watchdog post (the state comptroller) have been watered down to such a degree that they have been rendered useless.
Why? Fear of changes that would alter the status quo, of course, played a major role. But the leading force among the opposition were the legislators who wore more than one public hat many who serve as municipal or school officials.
That’s what makes the ban on dual-office holding so important. The "advocacy role played by legislators who are also local officials may undermine the ability of state government to exercise its constitutional authority over substate jurisdictions and to root out inefficient and ineffective policies and programs," Rider University professor David Rebovich, an expert on state government, wrote earlier this year.
Take away this advocacy role and perhaps change can occur. And once a ban is enacted, we are hopeful that the Legislature will extend it to cover both elected and appointed offices at the local, county and state levels.
Mayor Pucci’s collection of titles may seem pretty tame when compared to others, but so long as he and dozens of others are allowed to hold down two public jobs the public will have every right to questions where his loyalties lie.

