The “Political Ethics in New Jersey” panel discussion, sponsored by the Political Science Club and Pi Sigma Alpha - the political science honors society, was featured in the
Asbury Park Press on Wednesday, April 20, 2005.
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The following article was published in the Asbury Park Press on 4/20/05.
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University groups sponsor discussion on corruption
TALK: Focuses on political ethics in New Jersey
SPEAKERS: Include state senators, ex-Red Bank mayor
By CAROL GORGA WILLIAMS
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
WEST LONG BRANCH — Despite all the headlines about political corruption in Monmouth County, Heather Bachman, 23, still believes in the process and hopes one day to run for office.
Bachman, of Manasquan, was reacting to a Monmouth University panel discussion on "Political Ethics in New Jersey" on Tuesday.
The talk was sponsored by the university's Political Science Club and Pi Sigma Alpha, the political science honors society, and featured Daniel J. O'Hern, a one-time mayor of Red Bank who is a former state Supreme Court justice; Paula Ann Franzese, professor of law at Seton Hall University, state Sens. Ellen Karcher, D-Monmouth, and Joseph Kyrillos, R-Monmouth; and Harry Pozycki, a lawyer who is chairman of the government reform group, Common Cause New Jersey.
"I think that New Jersey has seen the darkness but will also see the light" of ethics reform, said Bachman, a junior studying political science. "I believe this has been a bad time but I believe there are good times ahead."
Lindsay Savage, 19, a sophomore from Brick, said the Feb. 22 arrests of government officials from Monmouth County demonstrate the need for reform.
"I believe more needs to be done," she said. "I think it is obvious after what happened in Monmouth County. We're not doing enough . . . I think the culture has to change."
O'Hern and Franzese are members of the state Ethics Reform Committee and authors of a recently submitted 270-page report to acting Gov. Codey with recommendations for ethics reform in the executive branch of government.
"You hate to make New Jersey jokes," O'Hern said. But "political ethics to some sounds like an oxymoron . . . One of the things we found in the course of our study is New Jersey's problems are far from unique."
As for some suggestions that New Jersey is the "corruption capital of the United States — that's far from true," O'Hern said.
Karcher recalled her experience cooperating with the FBI in its efforts to root out corruption in Monmouth County. She recalled, when she was Marlboro council president, the hostility of then-Mayor Matthew V. Scannapieco when she suggested studying the environmental impact of proposed development. Scannapieco last week pleaded guilty in federal court to accepting $245,000 in bribes from a developer while mayor and failing to report the illegal income to the Interal Revenue Service. "I take this very seriously," Karcher said. "I don't think it is a joke. There are factions in New Jersey who come up and tease me . . . but I'm wired to get this done" she said of ethics reform.
Kyrillos said he supports measures banning nepotism in government and believes there should be a full-time Legislature. He said consolidating some of the 500-plus municipalities in the state is part of the solution.
"There are so many individual pots of money, authorities galore, and it invites temptation," he said. "This home-rule pride we have grown up with in New Jersey costs us a lot."
