The Citizens Campaign enlisted citizen leaders in securing the adoption of pay-to-play protections in their hometowns and counties, creating a bottom-up movement that led to New Jersey adopting a strong state-level Pay-to-Play reform law. Now that the federal infrastructure bill has made funds available, to ensure that the money is spent well, we need to keep these pay-to-play protections in place. Harry Pozycki weighs in with a timely opinion piece published in NJ Spotlight.
“The adoption of the large-scale federal infrastructure package last year will provide New Jersey with a much-needed infusion of several billion dollars to upgrade its infrastructure. Given that the American Society of Civil Engineers gave New Jersey a D+ on the current condition of its infrastructure, it is critical to make sure that this money is spent carefully and that the contractors who are selected to repair our roads and sewage plants and install charging stations for electric vehicles are selected on merit and cost-effectiveness — not as a result of big political contributions.
This new reality is what makes the proposed Election Transparency Act’s virtual elimination of pay-to-play protections not only ill-advised state legislation, but also terribly ill-timed.”