Doubledipping proposal would touch some Plainfield officials

Partial detail from 'How Much Is Enough?'

New Jersey Policy Perspective scored a media hit this week with the release of its "How Much Is Enough?" report on an unnoticed byway in the dual-officeholding sweepstakes: those who hold an elected and a NON-ELECTED public job (of which Plainfield has several).

As the report says --

Dual elected office holding, however, turns out to be just the tip of the iceberg. Serious conflicts of interest and obligation, as well as threats to government performance and trustworthiness, arise not only when one person serves as both state legislator and mayor, or mayor and county freeholder. Those problems arise as well from a practice that--our research shows--is more pervasive but, except when a high-profile scandal breaks out, less visible.

Across the state, over 700 elected state, county and municipal officials also hold another, non-elected public sector position. Some hold more than one. New Jersey should now turn its attention to this issue in the effort to promote government that functions effectively in the public interest and a political system that gives less room for public suspicion--often well-grounded--that personal interests come first.

This report examines combined elected and non-elected job holding in New Jersey. It estimates the extent of the practice and assesses its effects on the quality and character of government. It also suggests standards for what should and should not be acceptable--an important task for the leaders of our state to complete.

The Courier pointed out that --

[w]hile the authors of the report said certain jobs, such as teaching, carry little potential for conflicts, they argued that elected officials who make laws should not also hold administrative positions that carry out those laws, citing the potential for conflicts and the consolidation of power in one person.

The New York Times cited an example of how the problem has been tackled elsewhere --

...Mr. O’Neill and others who conducted the study said ... they were not calling for a ban, but for creation of a commission to set the rules and review accusations of conflicts of interest.

As an example he cited Louisiana, where a grid has been drawn up indicating what types of full-time public employment would conflict with various elected posts...

but, the Times continued, political influence over job performance plays a role --

William E. Schluter, a former member of the Senate who is now a member of the State Ethics Commission, is an author of the report. He said in a press conference that many of the public jobs held by those elected below the state level were posts where county political leaders had influence in doling out patronage.

The Bergen Record pointed out not only conflicts of interest, but also the loss of attention to one job that another could entail --

In addition, someone holding a public-sector job and an elective office may not be adequately fulfilling both roles, they argue, such as a school superintendent who spends two days a week as an assemblyman in Trenton.

Other examples of potential conflicts of interest cited by O'Neill and Schluter include lawmakers who also enforce the law, such as police officers or undersheriffs [such as Assemblyman Joe Cryan, D-Union, who is both a Union County Undersheriff, and chair of the state Democratic party -- DD].

Likewise, they argue, school superintendents have so much discretion and power they should be barred from elective office. And a municipal prosecutor who is also a state senator, for example, could exercise senatorial courtesy and prevent the appointment of a judge he or she might appear before, which would be a blatant conflict of interest.

NJPP's O'Neill summed up the issue with a neat simile --

"They are local elected officials or county elected officials who hold a kind of mid-level public job, and they are camouflaged like a deer in the woods among the many public officials in this state so that the public remains largely unaware of this."

Plainfield officials holding both elected and non-elected public jobs include --

• Jennifer Wenson-Maier - Director of Public Works and Urban Development AND Council President in Rahway.
• Councilor Harold Gibson, who is also Union County's Director of Public Safety.
• Councilor Linda Carter is also a public school teacher.
• Former Councilor Al Hendricks was employed at Runnells Specialized Hospital while serving on the Council.

---

More Info --

• NJ Policy Perspective: "How Much is Enough? Drawing the Lines on Multiple Public Job Holding"
• Courier Editorial - 7/22/2007: "Non-elected jobs raise fresh ethics concerns"
  
• Courier - 7/20/2007: "Report: Multiple positions creates conflicts"
• Bergen Record - 7/20/2007: "Corzine urged to limit double-dipping"
  
• NY Times - 7/20/2007: "Dual-Job Ban Is Not Enough, Report Says"

-- Dan Damon

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