You Really Can Say Anything in a Political Ad

“It’s time to throw the book at corrupt politicians.”
-Herb Conaway mailer

Despite a 14 year career marked by little or no interest in meaningful reform to end the culture of corruption in New Jersey’s political establishment, Assemblyman Herb Conaway now wants the voters of Burlington County to believe he has a passion for ethics reform. In his latest campaign advertisement, Assemblyman Conaway offers a thin resume of feel-good legislation as evidence of his commitment to corruption busting, while failing to mention the major reforms he and his party have ignored.

“Proof positive that Herb Conaway has been in Trenton too long is that he thinks the Legislature has done much of anything to clean up corruption in New Jersey,” said Assembly candidate Jim Keenan. “The Legislature has failed to get to the heart of the issue and take up meaningful ethics reform because it would make it harder for the party in power to raise money and win elections. Instead, they slap ‘ethics reform’ on the title of do-nothing or watered down laws and hope that the public believes its reform.”

“Ethics reform isn’t about the title of a bill,” said Chris Halgas, a Moorestown small-businessman running for Assembly. “it is about closing all the loopholes and making sure that public servants cannot personally benefit from the system. Whether it’s protecting dual officeholders or protecting sick leave payouts for public workers, Herb Conaway has fallen down on the job of reforming New Jersey.”

As a service to the voters, the Keenan and Halgas for Assembly campaign would like to offer the voters of Burlington County what Mr. Conaway left out of his mail piece:

Claim 1: “I’ve worked hard to clean up Trenton’s culture of backroom dealing for politicians’ personal profit.”

Reality Check: Conaway takes political contributions from the special interests that appear before the committee he chairs, and adjusts legislation he sponsors shortly after taking those contributions.
(ELEC report, 11-day pre-primary, filed 5/24/11, A-1930, Assembly Floor Amendments, 6/23/11)

Claim 2: “Conaway is committed to ending the culture of corruption and holding Trenton bureaucrats accountable”

Reality Check: Conaway voted against changes to the Legislative Code of Ethics that would prohibit Legislators from seeking specific loans or grants for an employer or other source of personal income. He opposed a change would prohibit the type of conduct that landed ex-State Senator Joe Coniglio in federal prison.
(ACR-159, 08-09 session, motion to table, 3/13/08)

Conaway voted against changes that would have applied the dual office holding ban immediately, protecting double-dipping politicians.
(A-4326, 06-07 session, motion to table, 6/11/07)

Claim 3: “Enacted tough penalties for politicians who break the law.”

Reality Check: Conaway voted against changes to the campaign finance laws that would have prohibited candidates from using campaign funds to pay for a criminal defense.
(S-2506, 06-07 session, motion to table, 6/11/07)

Claim 4: “Making government more transparent.”

Reality Check: Conaway voted against requiring budget change requests, “Christmas Tree Items” to be voted on in an open meeting, making sure that all requests to direct appropriations be fairly vetted.
(ACR-164, 08-09 session, motion to table, 3/13/08)

Claim 5: “Capping unused sick leave payments for government employees.”

Reality Check: Under Conaway’s phony, watered down “cap”, cities and towns in New Jersey would continue to have to issue bonds and pass emergency appropriations to pay for unused sick leave payouts for police and firefighters. Current employees would still be allowed to cash out hundreds of thousands of dollars in unused sick leave time.
(cite, Jersey City $9 million, Jersey Journal, 3/21/11, Parsippany $900,000, Daily Record, 5/12/11 )