TRENTON – Senator Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, sponsor of Senate Bill 1987, which would allow municipalities to enact pay-to-play ordinances that are stricter than state law, made the following statement today following the passage of the bill by the Senate:
“When the Senate last year passed S-2, the legislation which curbed the practice of pay-to-play in New Jersey, it was done with the promise that we would pass a subsequent bill to allow municipalities to pass local ordinances that limited the practice either further.
“Without this bill, more than 50 towns would have had their local pay-to-play ordinances trumped by the weaker state law. Today we are making good on our promise and these towns will keep the ordinances that many local community leaders worked tirelessly to pass.
“For too long, pay-to-play has cast a pall of corruption over the New Jersey political landscape. For as long as anyone can remember, special interests have flooded campaigns with cash and purchased undue influence in our political system.
“Today we move another step forward in ending the abuses of pay-to-play. Today we further empower individual citizens to have a stronger voice and larger influence upon the government democratically elected to represent them.”