A call to action. Your help is needed!

06/26/2007

Monmouth County Republicans need to pass the strongest pay-to-play restriction in the State of New Jersey. The current resolutions presented to the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders, as reported in the Asbury Park Press, fail to meet this level of reform at best, or at worst are purposefully drafted to gain partisan advantage in the upcoming campaign cycle.
The Monmouth County Republican Committee calls on all Freeholders to do what is right for residents regardless of their political stripe, return these resolutions to the bipartisan committee, and produce a strengthened draft that it is fair, comprehensive and bulletproof. Republicans want a revised resolution passed before the end of the summer.
First, our resolution must ban the practice of wheeling, not just from within Monmouth County as has been proposed, but from out-of-county too, which is where the real problem exists. The current resolutions do not prohibit state or county political committees from outside of Monmouth County from making large contributions to candidates and committees in Monmouth County, which will have the unintended consequences of placing even-greater power within the hands of bosses in Trenton and elsewhere.
Specifically, during the last few election cycles, Monmouth County Democrats received tens of thousands of dollars from places like Camden County in a thinly-veiled attempt to undermine the will of Monmouth County voters. The current resolutions curiously neglect any attempt to address this serious problem. Last minute, under-the-radar campaign funding contributes to voter apathy by fueling negative attack ads and empowering the politics of personal destruction. This is a serious flaw that substantially benefits Democrat politicians and allows them to continue a business-as-usual approach with Trenton party bosses influencing local elections here in Monmouth County.
Second, huge union contributions from as far as Washington, DC have found their way into Monmouth County in recent years. These contributions do not represent the will of union members who are not asked to whom their union dues go to. Instead, they are coordinated and directed by political bosses and developers to curry favor for their next project. This is no different than corporate contributions being directed to local elections for the purposes of pay-to-play, and therefore, union contributions should be restricted too. Individual union members would remain free to contribute, therefore, not violating any individual rights.
Finally, the current resolutions must be combined into a single, binding document, so that partisans cannot attack one aspect of the proposal without attacking all of it. In this way, both political parties would be loath to come out against comprehensive reform, sure to be the target of public and media scorn. In its current form as two resolutions, wheeling bans could be attacked in court by those special interests that gain from the practice, providing a distinct advantage to one political side over another. As a single, revised resolution, the two vices of pay-to-play and wheeling are inextricably linked for the benefit of all.
The Monmouth County Republican Committee supports comprehensive pay-to-play and wheeling reform. The issue is far too important to allow individual politicians to seek partisan advantage during this historic opportunity to make positive change as an example for all of New Jersey. Without these changes, no Republican of good conscience could vote on the weaker measures as currently proposed. Please email your Freeholders and tell them you want a revised resolution passed.

Adam Puharic, Chairman
Monmouth County Republican Chairman

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Monmouth County Republican Party
www.MonmouthRepublican.org
info@MonmouthRepublican.org
732.431.6664