In the News Transcript dated March 16, a letter by Ben Silberman tries to give cover to Committeewoman Rebecca Aaronson’s lack of foresight on passing the toughest anti-“pay-to-play ordinance ever introduced in a municipality in New Jersey.” She had previously stated that she was given only one day to review the proposed ordinance prior to voting on its passage.
I personally believe that if the last pay-to-play ordinance, which was passed in December with absolutely no time to review, was good enough to get them their names in the paper, then this excuse of only having one day to review the new Municipal Anti-Racketeering and Corruption Ordinance (MARCO) before introducing it to the public is objectionable.
On Dec. 15, the attorney’s firm appointed by the then all-Democratic Township Commit-tee billed 2.6 hours to revise the Request for Proposal (RFP) ordinance.
That means Committee-woman Aaronson could not have had the ordinance prior to the day of the meeting. The fact is, it was clear from the meeting that no one had seen the amendment until showing up at town hall that evening.
When the township attorney mentioned the amendment at the meeting, he was greeted with blank stares, meaning no one had seen it before voting to pass it.
On Nov. 30, the day before the ordinance was introduced, the township attorney’s firm was still billing for research related to the RFP ordinance and for preparing the memorandum to send to the Township Committee with the proposed ordinance.
A partner of the appointed attorney’s firm billed time on that day to review the ordinance prepared by his employee prior to giving it to the Township Committee.
On Dec. 1, the day of the meeting, the township attorney’s firm was still revising the assistant administrator ordinance that was introduced that night.
Committeewoman Aaronson voted on Dec. 1 to introduce the pay-to-play ordinance she could not have received before that day, and to introduce the assistant administrator ordinance she could not have received until shortly before the meeting.
I was told that MARCO was in everyone’s mailbox the morning before the meeting during which it was introduced.
In the two weeks between the introduction and the public hearing, neither Committee-woman Aaronson nor Commit-teeman Drew Shapiro contacted the township attorney to discuss anything about the ordinance, ask any questions, propose any amendments or, in fact, to communicate at all with respect to the ordinance.
The dates of these billings and the employees who billed them and what they reference are public knowledge.
Touché, Mr. Silberman.
Robert Torregrossa
Manalapan