HOBOKEN — As reported in the Hoboken Reporter over the weekend, 2nd Ward Councilwoman Beth Mason has proposed various measures regarding ethics, but the city’s attorney said they have to be looked at further before a vote to introduce them.
On Wednesday, Mason proposed an ethics code for the city. City Attorney Michael Kates said the process to establish a code isn’t in the council’s purview. According to Kates, the city has two options for ethical regulation.
Either a municipality can rely on the state Board of Ethics to hear ethical complaints – and in doing would submit to the state’s ethical guidelines – or it can establish its own Ethics Board.
If a town creates an Ethics Board, the board either establishes the city code of ethics or uses the state guidelines. The council, Kates said, cannot establish the code of ethics themselves.
Hoboken already has an ordinance on the books that has established an Ethics Board to be appointed by the mayor, but the board seats have never been filled. The ordinance was established in 1985 and amended in 2004, according to documents provided by the City Clerk’s office.
Mason complained at the meeting that her proposal, along with some other legislation she has brought forth, has been stalled by the council. Mason is a sometime critic of the five members of the board who are allied with Mayor Dawn Zimmer.
Monday morning, Mason sent out this email to constituents:
At the City Council meeting on Wednesday May 19, I put forward two resolutions that would, if adopted, strengthen ethics laws for the City of Hoboken. Unfortunately, the majority of members on the City Council refused to support them.
The first resolution would require individuals who are appointed to municipal boards – such as the Planning Board, Zoning Board of Adjustment, Hospital Board, etc. — to disclose any political contributions to individual candidates or campaign committees that exceed $200 for the 4 years which precede the appointment. In the past, board positions have been used as a means to promote cronyism and reward campaign supporters, rather than to serve the residents of Hoboken. If candidates for municipal boards disclose contributions they have made to political campaigns it will allow for a more open, transparent and inclusive process. This resolution does not place any restrictions on candidates who contributed; it merely requires disclosure of those contributions.
However, several members of the City Council have refused to support this resolution under the reasoning that requiring disclosure of contributions made by board candidates will violate a board candidate’s freedom of speech. This same argument was made by corporations and government vendors who advocated against pay-to-play laws…
Instead of voting on this important resolution, these Council members had City Attorney Michael Kates remove it from the agenda and refused to put their reasons for not supporting it on the public record.
The second resolution would have enacted the toughest ethics code in Hoboken’s history. Currently, the City Council’s rules of procedure do not contain a code of ethics…
However, several members of the City Council again refused to support this resolution even though it would have made the Hoboken City Council a model for municipal governments all across the county. Again, Michael Kates removed it from the agenda and denied you the people the right to know where your elected officials stand on these important issues.