Pozycki writes:
At the heart of the matter is the fact that on the county and local levels, government contracts and development approvals are discretionary — and rife with opportunities to trade for political and personal gain. In the end, it is the taxpayers and businesses that carry the burden of these poor decisions.
The solution is two-fold. First, put in place the necessary state-mandated, local pay-to-play reforms to ensure contracts and development approvals are based on merit and cost-effectiveness. Second, bring in new leadership from outside the current political establishment.
Pozycki correctly identifies the problems. However there is a major problem with his proposed solutions: They won't work. They will only create new inequities.
While Pozycki and others argue that corruption must be dealt with by enacting stricter pay to pay laws, I argue that the current pay to pay laws, most of which have been proposed and championed by the Citizens Campaign, are part of the problem. Many of those arrested last month were taking money for their campaign coffers, not their personal coffers. There's no justification for the criminal acts. Yet, it is also true that the current pay to pay laws contributed to the environment that lead to the acts.
NJ's election finance laws make campaign contributions more difficult to make, both for those looking for a quid-pro-quo and for those or are not. There are caps on what can be contributed to a campaign account. There are higher caps on what can be contributed to a party account. There is yet another standard for what can be contributed to Political Action Committees and Leadership accounts. What we have is a complex system that results in the highly motivated (those who want something in return) being able to donate lots of money to their favorite candidates while those who are civic minded or just want to help the cause are either fearful of the process or just too busy to be bother navigating their way through the maze.
When the state laws are too cumbersome and limiting, savvy campaigns turn to federal accounts that are not so restricted. That's why we are seeing both the Democratic Governors Association and the Republican Governors Association spending so heavily in this years gubernatorial race. This also gives us the "527" issue oriented campaign spending.
Money is like air and water. It will find a way to get to where it wants to go. If there is not a way, and there is enough pressure, it will make a way.
Restricting campaign spending is inequitable and inefficient. Such restrictions produce results counter to those that Citizens Campaign wants to produce. Only those with the resources to navigate the maze will navigate the maze. Wealthy candidates who can afford to by-pass the maze will. Average citizens, who Citizens Campaign is trying to get more involved, are only further disenfranchised.
The only workable answer is simple. Full and immediate disclosure of unrestricted campaign contributions. Require all candidates, PACs and parties to post their contributions on the Internet within one business day of receipt. Then let competing campaigns police each other. If a government contractor or developer gives a candidate $100,000 let the competing campaign make an issue of that. If a candidate's rich uncle, or mother from Nebraska makes a large donation, that might or might not be such a big issue.
Any other "solution" is not a solution at all. Restrictions and regulations will only make work for lawyers, bureaucrats, investigators and prosecutors.
Like pay to pay restrictions, the Party Democracy Act will not work.
The intent of the act is to castrate party bosses by requiring that county political organizations have constitutions and by-laws. Pozycki says this legislation will empower county committees and grassroots activist to bring power back to where it belongs, the people.
The problem is that county committees already have this power. Yet many county committee seats go vacant for years and those filling those seats don't fulfill there statutory duties. You can't legislate away apathy and complacency. The Party Democracy Act could pass and the parties will comply. But unless more people get informed and involved, power will stay concentrated with the bosses.
Communication and leadership is the only thing that can impact apathy and complacency. To that end, Citizens Campaign, and all impassioned activists should continue to encourage more people to get involved. Networking sites and blogs have make such communication and leadership more efficient and affordable.
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