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Health & Fitness

The Gig is Up on Pay to Play!

It is to my surprise why everyone wouldn't support the idea of restricting campaign contributions unless, of course, one was actually profiting from the practice of "Pay to Play."

On the evening of Feb. 13, 2012, Joshua Berry, political director of South Jersey Citizens, presented a petition to Township Council calling for the end of what is known as “Pay to Play” in Gloucester Township. The petition with its 1,268 signatures collected from registered Gloucester Township voters represented the culmination of a year-long effort to educate the voting public on contract award practices in the township and collect signatures of citizens opposed to the practice. Specifically, at issue, is the practice of awarding township contracts to individuals and/or organizations that have contributed to the campaigns of those who have authority to award such township contracts. Is anybody concerned that campaign contributors often end up with lucrative contracts for township services?

Actually, it’s amazing to me that we are discussing such a practice going on in our township and I said as much to our Council members. During the public portion of Council’s session on the evening the petition was submitted, I stood at the microphone and encouraged all of our Council members to give serious consideration to the petition. I referenced and recommended a book that I am currently reading (Throw Them All Out, by Peter Schweizer) that indicates there is growing outrage amongst working Americans over the practice of our elected officials that allows them to exempt themselves from the very laws they impose on us regarding all manner of crony capitalism, that is, the gaining of affluence while supposedly serving the public good.

Does it bother you that elected officials can enter the Congress or Senate with a net worth of $250,000 and leave with a net worth of millions, sometimes north of $10 million? In addition, it has been documented that 75 percent of the “free” taxpayer money, an amount well up into the billions of dollars, given out for the advancement of “green technologies” during the current administration has been awarded to companies and partnerships headed by campaign organizers of, and contributors to, the present administration in the 2008 presidential campaign. This is the practice of “Pay to Play” gone wild.

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Self-Disclosure: I have only recently waded into township politics and had no part in the referenced Pay-to-Play ordinance or petition, nor did I actually ever see it or sign it. I am, however, aware of it now and am in full agreement with the tenants of the ordinance as worded. What surprises me is why everyone wouldn’t support the idea unless, of course, one was actually profiting from the practice of "Pay to Play."

Could it be possible that once restrictions are placed on political donations by parties that think or know that they have something to gain from such donations that citizens without such prior connections can actually afford to run for political office in Gloucester Township against those previously bankrolled in part by contract awardees? Would it be too much to think that members from other political parties could gain office and represent the citizens of Gloucester Township who don’t agree with the current one-party rule?

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What is needed now is the support of the citizens of Gloucester Township. If the Council will not adopt the ordinance as written then the citizenry needs to see this ordinance through to passage when it comes to a vote in November. That, in itself, is not the end; rather it is a beginning because the citizens of every township, county and state need to take back government from career politicians who think they are answerable to no one but themselves. And finally, we need to mandate that our duly elected Congress, Senate, and President serve at the will of the people and not to their own gain and the gain of their special friends.

“…Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness” — The Declaration of Independence

Not only is self-rule our God-given right and privilege, in fact, it is our sacred duty to exercise these rights and guard the gift that was purchased for us at so high a price by our forefathers, and if we fail at this juncture to take back our government and once again guarantee liberty and justice for all after so many fought so long and hard to guarantee such precious gifts, we will surely be cursed by our progeny and future generations for years to come.

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