TRENTON, Sept. 22 - With only weeks until he steps down,
Gov. James E. McGreevey issued a broad order on Wednesday
that attempts to break the link between political
contributions and government contracts in a state rattled
by one corruption scandal after another.
The executive order, which is to take effect on Oct. 15,
prohibits the awarding of most state contracts to
businesses that have contributed to state or county
political committees or gubernatorial candidates. Last
year, the two state party committees raised a total of
$17.3 million from individuals, groups and businesses -
$14.3 million alone by Mr. McGreevey's Democratic Party.
County political committees raised nearly $30 million more. Advocates of the changes said they were the strictest in
the nation.
The order was signed by Mr. McGreevey, one of the most
prolific fund-raisers in New Jersey history, at an
emotional public event at which he cited the goodness and
kindness of New Jerseyans, and said he finally could seek
"to put an end to politics as usual in Trenton."
Mr. McGreevey said he took the action because the state's
notorious "pay to play" system had become "corrosive and
cancerous." His resignation and impending departure, he
said, had given him "a personal and political freedom that
has enabled me to confront challenges I have avoided in the
past."
Mr. McGreevey's aides had said he would use his time
remaining in office to address many of the issues he could
not - or would not - resolve during his two and a half
years in office. Mr. McGreevey announced on Aug. 12 that he
was gay and had an affair outside his marriage, and that he
would step down on Nov. 15.
His order will remain in effect unless a future governor
revokes it. Richard J. Codey, the Senate president, who
will serve out the last 14 months of Mr. McGreevey's term,
pledged to keep the order in place "as long as the sun
continues to rise in the East and set in the West while I
am acting governor."
Under the executive order, state agencies and independent
authorities will be prohibited from awarding contracts to
businesses that have contributed to a gubernatorial
candidate or a state- or county-level political committee.
It will also apply to individuals who own or control more
than 10 percent of a company or partnership. Advocacy
groups known as 527's that are controlled by such
businesses also fall under the order.
The measure applies to state contracts in excess of
$17,500, but will not affect county and municipal
contracts, unlike a bill earlier this year that failed to
pass in the Legislature. Those contracts account for about
half of all government spending in New Jersey. The
restrictions also do not apply to legislative candidates or
the powerful political action committees controlled by
legislative leaders. Last year, those legislative
leadership committees raised $12.6 million.
Still, the new rules are the strictest in the nation,
according to Craig Holman, the campaign finance lobbyist
for Public Citizen in Washington, who helped draft the
first pay-to-play proposal in Trenton almost three years
ago - a proposal that was not adopted. "I'm delighted," Mr.
Holman said. "This is much more sweeping than what any
other state has come up with."
Mr. Holman said only four states had adopted official
pay-to-play policies, although he noted that many others
had stricter campaign contribution limits and that others
had not been so rife with pay-to-play scandals as New
Jersey.
Mr. McGreevey's aides said they were confident that his
order would withstand any legal challenge in what they
acknowledged was a largely untested field of regulation.
One proponent of the restrictions, Harry S. Pozycki, the
chairman of Common Cause New Jersey, said he was confident
that "constitutionally, it's on all fours, and it's
certainly within the authority of the governor to do this." Mr. Pozycki noted that the state Chamber of Commerce had
supported the strongest possible restrictions. "The chamber
calls pay-to-play extortion," he said. "The only ones who
liked this were the county and state bosses, and that's
where the addiction is. The governor doesn't have that
addiction anymore."
Mr. McGreevey called the pay-to-play phenomenon "an issue
that has haunted us for years" and a system that, "by
definition, appeals to human weakness."
Allowing that some "may say that I am hypocritical, in
biting the hand that fed me," the governor said, "Believe
me, I am more aware than ever of my own frailties, but that
does not justify inaction."
Mr. McGreevey also said that "to my colleagues in
government, I know that this may cause consternation and
anger."
Legislators gave generally positive reviews to the
initiative, many promising to take up legislative proposals
to accomplish what the governor could not. Legislative
Republicans, who had pushed hard for the measure barring
contracts for campaign contributors at all levels of
government, said they would try again.
The Assembly Republican leader, Alex DeCroce, and
Assemblyman Kevin O'Toole, the sponsor of the comprehensive
measure, said in a statement that they hoped "the
Democrat-controlled legislature will take the not very
subtle hint from Governor McGreevey" and agree to schedule
another vote on it.
The Assembly speaker, Albio Sires, and the Assembly
majority leader, Joseph J. Roberts Jr., both Democrats,
said the executive order "constitutes another significant
leap forward in the effort to curtail campaign spending and
limit the impact that special interest money can have in
the political process." They pledged to review the order
carefully to see if it presented any constitutional
problems.
In the spring, Mr. Sires and Mr. Roberts rejected the
comprehensive measure as lacking the constitutionally
required connection between the donor and the people
responsible for awarding contracts. Without such a
connection, they said, restricting a contributor's gifts
might infringe on his right to free speech.
In place of the legislation supported by Common Cause and
the Republicans and approved by the Senate last year, the
Assembly Democrats adopted a much weaker version, as part
of a larger package of new ethics regulations.
Mr. McGreevey, who publicly refused to take sides in that
dispute, said Wednesday that while he might be criticized
for doing too little, too late, "I ask, if not now, when?"
New Jersey politics at every level has been roiled by
scandal in recent years. Last month, Charles Kushner, Mr.
McGreevey's biggest fund-raiser, pleaded guilty to witness
tampering in connection with a campaign finance
investigation, and last week another Democratic
fund-raiser, David D'Amiano, pleaded guilty to mail fraud.
At least a dozen public officials, including the Essex and
Hudson County executives, have also been prosecuted in the
two and a half years since Mr. McGreevey took office.
In addition, United States Senator Robert G. Torricelli was
forced to drop his re-election bid in 2002 after
revelations about his relationship with a contributor.
Mr. McGreevey's executive order is expected to stem the
flow of cash into the county political organizations, which
are a major locus of fund-raising for races at all levels
of government in New Jersey. At the same time, many in
Trenton warned, campaign money is likely to find other
routes.
The executive order addresses the possibility of
circumvention by prohibiting businesses from making or
soliciting contributions through intermediaries or with the
agreement that it will be channeled elsewhere.
The order prohibits the awarding of contracts to any
business entity that contributed to a party organization
within 18 months of the beginning of contract negotiations.
In the case of contributions to the governor, the
prohibition would continue through the end of the term.
Mr. Codey, because he will retain his post as Senate
president while he is acting governor, will be in a
position to steer legislation through the Senate. He
supported the proposals for restrictions at all levels of
government last spring, which originally had some
Democratic sponsors, but acceded to the Assembly leadership
in the battle.
As he spoke, Mr. McGreevey returned to his decision to
change "politics as usual in Trenton," he said, "God knows,
I wish that the circumstances were different."