interesting article

[sloesser]

Read it and weep, local dems.

The Record

Thursday, October 11, 2007

By ADRIENNE LU and JOHN REITMEYER
TRENTON BUREAU

Pay-to-Play Trail Easier to follow

New database lists donations, contracts


It's much easier now to connect the dots -- if there are any -- between businesses that make political contributions and win government contracts.


For the first time starting Wednesday, the public was able to access lists of all campaign donations of at least $300 made by businesses earning $50,000 or more from government contracts in one year -- including contracts from munici- palities, counties, the state, school districts and authorities.

The information, reported by the businesses, is available through a searchable online database made available by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.

"It gives us a better picture of what's happening in the arena of government contracting and ensures the integrity of the process," said Heather Taylor, spokeswoman for The Citizens' Campaign.

Prior to this week, people who wanted to see a company's campaign contributions would have had to look up each contribution on a different form. Now, all of a company's contributions are listed together on one document.

FAST FACTS
How to find data:

• Start at elec.state.nj.us/.

• Click on the "Pay-To-Play" option in the upper right corner.

• Click on "Search Information" on the left side.

• Use the search engine to find out which businesses received government contracts in 2006; what contracts government entities gave out; where businesses and their officers made contributions; and what candidates, political action committees and others accepted contributions.

• You also can search each field by dollar amount to find the businesses that made the most off taxpayers statewide and also on a town-by-town basis. You can also use dollar amounts to find the firms that spent the most on political contributions or to individual candidates.

Highlights:

• A total of 1,687 government contractors filed reports.

• A total of 1,755 political contributors filed reports.

• More than 2,000 political contribution recipients filed reports.

• Horizon New Jersey of West Trenton held the largest government contract in New Jersey in 2006, a $718 million Medicaid contract. The company or its officers donated a total of $19,100.

• T & M Associates, a Middletown-based engineering firm, donated the most money, $599,545, to politicians or political action committees in 2006. The firm made $30.7 million from government contracts in 2006. The state counted contributions made by the firm directly or through its officers to calculate the total amount.

• The biggest single political donation in 2006 was a $50,000 contribution made by the Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer law firm of Woodbridge to the American Trial Lawyers Association.

Source: New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission

The new database is the latest attempt to try to curtail the practice of awarding government contracts to political donors, known as pay-to-play. The practice has been the subject of numerous reform efforts.

"We're trying to allow the public to review if there are any connections between campaign contributions and receiving government contracts," said Frederick M. Herrmann, executive director of the Election Law Enforcement Commission, known as ELEC.

According to a review of the pay-to-play database, contractors in some industries don't have to pay big money to politicians to get government work.

But companies that offer so-called professional services, such as law firms and engineering firms, generally spent more on campaign contributions. The three top political contributors in the state in 2006, for example, were all engineering firms.

State law requires most contracts to be awarded through competitive bidding processes. Professional services, however, are exempt from competitive bidding because they are considered to be too complex to be awarded simply on the basis of price. Critics say the exemption makes them particularly prone to pay-to-play.

Middletown-based engineering firm T & M Associates spent $599,545 on political contributions last year -- the most of all 1,755 contributors -- and received $30.7 million from government contracts. Remington & Vernick Engineers of Haddonfield gave $483,880 to politicians and political action committees and received $23.6 million from government agencies. Another engineering firm, CME Associates of Parlin, won $19.9 million in government contracts last year and gave $404,899 in contributions.

Among law firms, Evesham-based Parker McKay spent the most on contributions last year, handing out $271,450, while collecting $8.1 million in government contracts. Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer of Woodbridge gave $262,675 in donations, either through the firm or its officers, and received $5.85 million in government contracts. The Teaneck-based law firm DeCotiis, FitzPatrick, Cole & Wisler received $12 million from government agencies in 2006 while the firm or its officers gave a total of $190,486 in political contributions.

By contrast, the companies that made the most money by working for governments in New Jersey last year -- none of which fall into the category of professional services -- made only modest political donations.

AmeriChoice of New Jersey, based in Newark, donated a total of $500 in 2006 and received $451 million for handling a Medicaid contract with the state. Prudential Insurance, also of Newark, collected $272 million while donating just $3,600. Horizon New Jersey in West Trenton, which brought in the most in government contracts at $718.6 million, donated $19,100 either directly or through officers.

Construction companies also won major government projects without spending a lot of money. Most construction work is awarded through a public bidding process. Two of the companies that rank in the top 10 for government contracts last year in the state are construction firms.

Red Bank-based Torcon Inc. donated just $3,700 but received $106 million from government work. Tilcon New York Inc. of Wharton had a total of $121.8 million government work and spent $5,800 on political contributions.

Under the new pay-to-play rules, businesses are required to report donations to political candidates, committees or parties made by the company, its principals and subsidiaries and political action committees controlled by the company, officers, directors and spouses. Previously, only the recipients of those donations were required to report the contributions.

In addition to details about political contributions, the businesses are required to list specific information about the government contracts received, such as the amount of the contract.

The state is still determining whether non-profits will be required to comply with the same rules, Herrmann said.

Bill Schluter, a former state senator from Mercer County who has advocated for ethical reform in government, called the new features an improvement.

"Pay-to-play legislation has many loopholes where people can get around the reporting, but this is a good feature which helps understand where that money, where the contributions are coming from," Schluter said.

But some businesses feel that the new requirements are an undue burden, especially since much of the information they are being required to disclose is already available through ELEC, albeit not altogether in one place.

"We have no problem with the concept of disclosure," said John Rogers, vice president of human resource issues for the New Jersey Business and Industry Association. "Our concern was how much work it was for businesses to have to enter so much stuff, especially since the contribution stuff is all sitting in ELEC."

The association also believes that the law is so broad that many contributions that may have nothing to do with alleged pay-to-play issues will be lumped together with a business, such as a spouse's contributions.

Paul Kaufman's law firm, Kaufman, Bern & Deutsch, contributed $79,100 last year and received $1,042,593 in government work. He said that while it was a lot of work for his firm's accountant to file the information required, he did not disagree with the concept.

"Some people have made that determination that it's a value and it's really for someone else to make that judgment," Kaufman said. "I would just say that in general, anything that expands the knowledge of the public is not a bad thing, even if it unfortunately involves me or my firm."

Staff Writer Stephanie Akin contributed to this article. E-mail: lu@northjersey.com and reitmeyer@northjersey.com

* * *
Donating for dollars

For the first time, state officials required all companies that hold government contracts to disclose all of their political contributions. The state's Election Law Enforcement Commission made the information public Wednesday. Below is a sampling of some of the prominent contractors in North Jersey.

Name
Total received
Total contributed
Percentage (contribution/contracts)
Railroad Construction Co. Inc.
$38,537,438.60
$6,350.00
0.02%
DMJM Harris Inc.
$20,458,601.66
$13,650.00
0.07%
Sanzari companies
$63,818,128.60
$76,850.00
0.12%
J. Fletcher Creamer & Son Inc.
$42,395,431.03
$72,250.00
0.17%
Boswell Engineering
$12,157,910.00
$79,120.00
0.65%
Scarinci & Hollenbeck
$5,919,888.28
$54,650.00
0.92%
Lerch, Vinci & Higgins LLP
$6,396,817.20
$64,750.00
1.01%
DeCotiis, FitzPatrick, Cole & Wisler LLP
$12,022,290.25
$190,486.00
1.58%
Burgis Associates
$226,145.00
$4,700.00
2.08%
Law Offices of Peter A. Tucci Jr. LLC
$78,493.95
$1,900.00
2.42%
Ferraioli, Weilkotz, Cerullo & Cuva PA
$4,123,855.70
$104,281.00
2.53%
Law Offices of Ortiz and Paster
$384,309.15
$12,750.00
3.32%
Kaufman, Bern & Deutsch LLP
$1,042,593.90
$79,094.00
7.59%
Tonio Burgos and Associates Inc.
$69,499.98
$49,500.00
71.22%