Bergen County freeholders override County Executive Kathleen Donovan’s veto of less strict ‘pay-to-play’ ordinance
Wednesday May 15, 2013, 9:25 PM
BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITER
The Record
The Bergen County freeholders on Wednesday overrode County Executive Kathleen Donovan’s veto of a revised pay-to-play law that loosens restrictions on contributions to political parties by no-bid contractors doing business with the county.
The override vote was 6-1, with Maura DeNicola casting the lone dissenting vote. Voting to override were John Felice, David Ganz, John Mitchell, Steve Tanelli, Joan Voss and Tracy Zur.
The move drew protests from several advocates who say the revised law will bring an influx of vendor cash to county political party coffers.
“It amounts to an announcement by the party bosses of both parties that whatever the voters want on ‘pay-to-play,’ the voters are not going to get it,” said Robert Gulack of Fair Lawn, a member of Bergen Grassroots, which advocated for an original, more-restrictive law.
The override vote was a significant reversal from October, when the Freeholder Board was unable to muster the five votes needed to overturn Donovan’s first veto of a revised pay-to-play law. Back then, when Republicans held a 5-2 majority, the proposed changed were less sweeping that the measure introduced by the current board, where Democrats have a 4-3 majority. Wednesday’s vote was in keeping with a bipartisan agreement.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/bergen/Bergen_County_freeholders_override_County_Executive_Kathleen_Donovans_veto_on_expanded_pay-to-play_ordinance.html
It’s clear that the Democrats and turncoat republicans want the money to roll next year against Garrett and Donovan!