2019-172: Resolution authorizing the County Manager to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Union County Improvement Authority (the Authority) to solicit proposals from qualified entities for the Lease or Purchase of the Union County Juvenile Detention Facility and directing the Authority to deliver an amended Exhibit A to the Lease Purchase Agreement to include professional and other services and related work in connection with this undertaking, in an amount not to exceed $325,000.
[Republican Councilman and former mayor Joseph] DeIorio noted that the biggest difference between contributions under the old limit and what the state allows is for county political organizations, which can now receive up to $37,000 from donors doing business with Roselle Park for each election cycle, up from just $200.
“The most money you can donate is to the county,” DeIorio said, adding that the amounts now at stake make will make it all too tempting for county party officials — who can make or break the careers of local politicians — to influence municipal contract decisions.
That notion was dismissed by both Signorello and Union County’s Democratic chairman, state Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-22nd Dist. Both said the issue had never been discussed, and while Scutari acknowledged that lifting Roselle Park’s contribution limit could indeed boost the county party’s fundraising, he said it would not lead him or his organization to pressure municipal officials to award contracts to certain donors.
“Do I influence municipal decisions? No,” Scutari said in a phone interview Thursday night, adding that he wasn’t even aware of the council’s move. “This is the first I’m hearing about it.”
Click here for a spreadsheet of payouts from 2004 sorted by recipient and date paid through December, 2018 as taken from Union County Check Registry data. Some of the familiar names are in additional worksheets in the file. Among them:
You may be surprised to know that New Jersey has a Local Government Ethics Law. You may not be surprised that it is of little practical use as a deterrent for unethical behavior. Though it requires Financial Disclosure Statements when even the most obvious instances of malfeasance are uncovered it becomes more of an opportunity for soaking taxpayers and rewarding political insiders than punishing the guilty. For example, no matter how unethically you behave, there is this limit on penalties:
