TRENTON – Senator Ellen Karcher, D-Monmouth and Mercer, a leading advocate on State ethics reform and banning developers’ influence in government, issued the following statement regarding today’s Senate approval of a bill allowing municipalities to pass stronger bans on pay to play, or the practice of trading campaign contributions for lucrative contracts of government favors:
“For government ethics watchdogs, pay to play has long been considered a cancer on the good work and achievements of government at all levels. It is unrelenting and undiscerning, affecting officials on the municipal, county and State level with equal voracity.