What's up with New Jersey?

Photos, clockwise from top left: Craig Ruttle/Bloomberg; Craig Ruttle/Bloomberg; Craig Ruttle/Bloomberg; Louis Lanzano/Associated Press Clockwise from top left: Leaving federal court in Newark on Thursday, Peter Cammarano, mayor of Hoboken (center); Dennis Elwell, mayor of Secaucus (left); Leona Beldini, deputy mayor of Jersey City (right). F.B.I. agents leading arrested individuals from their headquarters in Newark.

The arrest of 44 people last Thursday in New Jersey — including three mayors, two state assemblymen and other public officials — on corruption charges seemed only to confirm the stereotype of New Jersey as one of the most corrupt states in the nation. It didn’t help that Wayne Bryant, former chairman of the New Jersey State Senate’s powerful Budget Committee, was sentenced on Friday to 4 years in prison on 12 counts of bribery and fraud.

Why does the political culture in New Jersey seem so susceptible to corruption? Or is it not much better in other states?

No One Is Paying Attention

Richard Benfield has written about New Jersey politics and government for more than 40 years. Until early this year he was a member of The Times’ editorial board and wrote editorials about New Jersey.

There are three reasons why New Jersey is a hotbed of corruption: 1.) it has a history that is less than pure, 2.) it has more municipalities (566) and other governing bodies than your average state, and 3.) people tend to ignore what goes on in a state sandwiched between two powerful cities: New York and Philadelphia.

Going back at least to the early 1900s and the days of Frank (“I am the boss”) Hague of Jersey City, the state has been known as a place where government officials could enrich themselves at the public’s expense. When this kind of reputation lives on for so long, many in government start thinking that taking a bribe is acceptable. Even the public begins to buy in to this thinking.

Compounding this is the sheer number of governing boards — counties, towns, school committees, autonomous agencies, zoning boards — all of which have a say over whether vendors get contracts or builders get permits. No news outlet or prosecutor can possibly keep watch over all these agencies and their officials. Gov. Jon Corzine and others have tried to reduce the number of municipalities in New Jersey, but efforts to do so have run head on into the state’s long and hallowed tradition of home rule.

Finally, too many New Jersey residents pay more attention to what’s going on New York and Philadelphia than to what’s happening in their home town. At least part of this is because the news media, especially television, focuses on the two cities.

Perhaps, today’s proliferation of local blogs and Web sites may get more New Jerseyans to turn their attention to the place where they live. On the other hand, as New Jersey and New York’s newspapers reduce their staffs and cutback or eliminate coverage of the Garden State, many New Jerseyans will probably become even less aware of what their local officials are up to.

Very Little Outrage

Ingrid W. Reed is a policy analyst and director of the New Jersey Project at the Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University. She recently conducted a study of local government ethics administration in New Jersey.

Does New Jersey have a culture of corruption? What is the opposite of a culture of corruption? A culture of respect for ethical behavior? A culture of a shared value that public officials act in the public’s interest not their self-interest?

Most public officials live by that shared value, but, alas, it does not get affirmed publicly. Two more examples occurred in last week, in addition to the 44 arrests on Thursday.

A powerful former State Senator, Wayne Bryant, was sentenced for a having no-show job at a university where he also arranged for awarding significant state grants. His defense asserted it is a common arrangement. Who ever pointed out that this conflict of interest is counter to the legislative code of ethics? Who was outraged before it became a criminal matter?

A Passaic County election official in the midst of controversy about voting equipment was accused of hiring her relatives to work in her office. The newspaper article recently quoted her as saying that every one hires their relatives at the county. For a state official, nepotism is prohibited, but there is no such rule at the local level. Rules aside, where is the outrage? If there is any, it has yet to surface in the media.

Maybe a culture of corruption is a culture without outrage — by citizens or public officials. That’s New Jersey.


Read the rest at the Source. There were many more insights I couldn't add here.