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Courier News Online
c-n.com
650 contributors made
$5.13B from N.J.
By JAMES W. PRADO
ROBERTS and GREGORY J. VOLPE
Gannett New Jersey,
c-n.com on the Web, October 11, 2007
TRENTON -- Some 650 firms gave
$12.4 million in political contributions around New Jersey last year while
earning $5.13 billion from all levels of government in the state, according to
filings released Wednesday by the state Election Law Enforcement Commission.
The tally amounts to the most comprehensive public disclosure ever made in New
Jersey about government vendors and their political contributions.
The disclosure was part of the state's restrictions on pay-to-play, in which
politicians and businesses trade government contracts for campaign cash.
Companies that earned more than $50,000 from their public work in New Jersey and
made even a single contribution of more than $300 in 2006 were required to
detail both their contracts and their contributions.
The filings released Wednesday show:
About 650 vendors combined to contribute $12.4 million in 2006 while holding
$5.13 billion worth of government contracts -- a ratio of about $410 worth of
work for every dollar contributed. That $12.4 million came in a year in
which there were no statewide races and campaign expenses were low.
Roughly 1,000 companies with public contracts reported no political
contributions in 2006.
The top contributors are dominated by engineering and law firms that win much of
their work through no-bid contracts. The six biggest political donors
include three engineering firms, two law firms and an accounting firm.
Those firms contributed $2.3 million and were paid almost $98 million in
government contracts.
The filings will likely renew debate about whether all government vendors should
be banned from political contributions.
"Disclosure is a good thing, but we should go beyond disclosure and ban it,"
said Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance, R-Hunterdon.
Assemblyman Joseph Cryan, D-Union, state chairman of the Democratic Party, said
he still believes the best solution is to do away with pay-to-play restrictions
but have lower contribution limits with instant disclosure.
"The most fundamental way to do this process is to have consistent lower limits.
... And instant reporting of donations and expenditures is a better way to go,"
Cryan said.
Only one of the top donor/contractors returned a call seeking comment -- T&M
Associates, which gave the most, $599,545, while holding $30.7 million worth of
contracts.
"It's a reflection of the quality of the work that they do and the size of the
organization," T&M spokesman Pete McDonough said." ... The size of their
contributions relative to the amount of contracts they have is right on the
average across the board."
Harry Pozycki, chairman of the Citizens Campaign, which lobbied for the
disclosure law, said the filings could show where the law needs to be made
stronger.
"You use the disclosure to make sure, if there is an attempt to end-run the
statute, then enforcement can be applied," Pozycki said. "Now we've got to
look at the disclosure data and see where we have to tighten up the law."
The new data provides a treasure trove of information about which vendors are
working where, and doing what.
For instance, the law firm Florio, Perrucci, Steinhardt & Fader, co-founded by
former Gov. James J. Florio, was paid $1.8 million last year -- more than half
from defending NJ Transit against personal injury lawsuits.
One law firm, Capehart Scatchard, filed, but didn't know how exactly it earned
$4.2 million in government contracts.
In an attached statement, the firm said, it earned its pay "from municipal
bodies, school districts, county agencies, fire districts, joint insurance
funds, State agencies."
"Details to be provided," the firm promised.
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