Elected officials' public jobs come under scrutiny
Panter, Mallet would push for close look at legislators' other jobs
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer
Democratic state Assemblyman Michael Panter and his running mate Amy Mallet have vowed to focus on the practice of elected officials holding nonelected public jobs and receiving public contracts.

According to Mallet, "We're going to do the right thing here."

"While the overwhelming majority of elected officials who participate in this practice are well-qualified and perform vital public functions, we must ensure that conflicts of interest and opportunities for political patronage are addressed," Panter said.

Panter and Mallet are running for two three-year seats in the state Assembly in New Jersey's 12th Legislative District, which covers parts of Monmouth and Mercer counties. Their most significant opponents in the race are Republicans Declan O'Scanlon and Caroline Casagrande. Election Day is Nov. 6.

Panter and Mallet discussed the issue of elected officials holding nonelected public jobs and receiving public contracts at their headquarters in Freehold on Sept. 25.

They said if they are elected to the Assembly, the first piece of legislation they would sponsor in the 2008-09 legislative session would be to form a commission to review any cloud of suspicion that sur- rounds that practice.

"We need to set hard and fast guidelines for when elected officials can hold a public position and when they cannot," Mallet said. "We must ensure that this practice is conducted in full view of the public."

Panter authored a ban on dual office holding (i.e., being an elected member of a municipal governing body and an elected member of the state Legislature at the same time) that became law in June. He said those who hold more than one office at the same time may have conflicts of interest.

"This practice also concentrates power in a small group of people and lessens opportunities for others to run for positions," he said.

Panter said although he considers the ban on dual office holding to be an important step, he believes the issue he was discussing last week is even more important.

"The practice of elected officials in New Jersey holding nonelected public positions is no less deserving of the same level of scrutiny that we gave dual office holding," he said.

Currently, there are more than 700 state, county and local elected officials who simultaneously hold other nonelected public positions, according to Panter.

The assemblyman said addressing this issue is critical because the public knows very little about what goes on or has very little say. Contracts given by public officials are out of the public's eye, or as Mallet put it, "Under the radar screen and invisible to the public eye."

The Panter and Mallet proposal is based on a 2007 New Jersey Policy Perspective report written by Tom O'Neill and former state Sen. William Schluter. The report urged New Jersey to turn its attention to this issue in order to "promote government that functions effectively in the public interest and a political system that gives less room for suspicion."

Panter said the public only hears about these types of situations when a scandal arises. He noted how the report that was prepared by O'Neill and Schluter cited the case of state Sen. Wayne Bryant (D-Camden) who was indicted in March on six counts of mail fraud and one count of corruption. Bryant was charged with directing millions of dollars of state funds to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in return for a $40,000 no-show job.

That report also cited John O. Bennett, who was the Republican leader of the state Senate when a series of newspaper articles in 2003 raised questions about bills that Bennett had submitted to Marlboro. Bennett lost his re-election bid. He was never charged with breaking any law.

Upon leaving elective office, according to the report, Bennett took with him the richest retirement package in New Jersey state Senate history, $78,540 a year, which was made so lucrative in part because he had served in elected positions for more than 20 years and because he worked for many years as a municipal attorney and became vested in the public pension system.

Referring to the Panter-Mallet proposal, O'Neill said in a press release, "New Jersey took a significant step in banning newly elected officials from holding two elected positions at the same time. Our study called for New Jersey to turn its attention now to multiple public job holding and I commend Michael Panter and Amy Mallet for being the first to respond forcefully to that recommendation."

Panter said that according to the proposal he and Mallet would put forth, elected officials "who wished to continue to hold their appointed positions would have to be cleared through a bipartisan body empowered to mitigate potential conflicts, notify the public and ensure that public contracts are going out to bid and being awarded fairly."

Mallet said officials need to ensure that all municipalities are "receiving the best bang for their buck," in other words, that they are awarding contracts to the person who will do the best job for the least amount of money and not award contracts to "political allies."

"We don't want officials to squeeze every dollar out of the taxpayers money. New Jersey is in a financial crisis," Mallet said. "Our schools are underfunded and our elected officials do not know right from wrong and they must be stopped."

Panter said he expects this proposal to spark controversy. Stating that he himself was considered a "heretic" for his proposal to ban dual office holding, he fully expects that this plan will receive criticism. But Panter and Mallet said they are OK with that possibility because in the long run, it's all about what affects the public, the people they want to serve.

"The public is no longer willing to see their elected officials walked off in handcuffs," Panter said. "Our image is tarnished and this makes me angry. If anyone objects to this legislation, they are living in the political past."