TRENTON – Senate Majority Leader Bernard F. Kenny Jr. today said Senate Republicans should “rally their own local municipalities” to adopt pay-to-play ordinances instead of pushing for a statewide mandate on the issue.
“With all due respect to Senator (Leonard) Lance (the Senate Minority Leader), there’s almost 50 municipalities in his district (23) and only one or two, if that, have adopted local pay-to-play ordinances,” said Senator Kenny. “That’s hardly a groundswell.”
The Senate Majority Leader noted that last year Senate Democrats supported a GOP legislative effort to grant local municipalities the authority to pass their own pay-to-play statutes.
“It seems like Senator Lance has some work to do in his own backyard before proceeding with a statewide mandate,” Senator Kenny said.
The Senate Democratic leader said the Legislature should monitor the progress of the local ordinances before imposing a single standard on all municipalities in New Jersey.
“We are in the process of doing several key reforms to help lessen the influence of money on government, but it would be inappropriate to advance a statewide mandate without local support,” Senator Kenny said.