Senate Passes Kean Ethics Bill to Make Local Government More Accountable

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1 min read
February 27, 2016

The New Jersey Senate passed legislation sponsored by Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean to strengthen local government accountability and ethics, in part, by transferring oversight at the municipal and county levels to the State Ethics Commission.

Senate passes kean ethics bill to make local government more accountable

Sen. Tom Kean’s legislation strengthens local government accountability by transferring oversight to the State Ethics Commission. (©iStock)

“New Jersey municipal and county officials must be more accountable to the people, as they control $15 billion taxpayer dollars each year,” said Kean (R-Union, Somerset, Morris). “This overdue measure holds local representatives to the highest and most efficient ethical standards. Without it, absent or fragmented oversight will continue to be a recipe for local government to violate the public trust.”

Senator Kean introduced the original version of this bill, S-342, in June 2012. Shortly thereafter, then-New Jersey Comptroller Matthew Boxer published a case-in-point investigative report about a Chesterfield Township Committeeman exploiting his position to reap a $200,000 windfall on the sale of development rights on his property.

Read the rest of Senate Passes Kean Ethics Bill to Make Local Government More Accountable (219 words)

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