Kaplan & Kirk For Bergen Freeholders

GANZ AND McPHERSON LYING AGAIN
CLAIM TO HAVE INSTITUTED ETHICS REFORMS
IS DISPUTED BY RECORD EDITORIALS
"that’s the biggest lie in politics since Bill Clinton said he didn’t have sex with that woman, Monica Lewinsky.�

KAPLAN AND KIRK FOR FREEHOLDER
Bergen County Republicans putting TAXPAYERS FIRST!
For Immediate Release: October 18, 2005
Contact: Thom Ammirato (973) 403-7836
GANZ AND McPHERSON LYING AGAIN
CLAIM TO HAVE INSTITUTED ETHICS REFORMS
IS DISPUTED BY RECORD EDITORIALS
Bergen County – Democrat freeholders David Ganz and Bernadette McPherson are again deliberately misleading voters regarding their abysmal record on ethics reform, said Republican freeholder candidates Michael Kaplan and Kelly Kirk.
Pointing to Democrat campaign literature that claims Ganz and McPherson
implemented ethics reform, Kaplan said, “that’s the biggest lie in politics since Bill Clinton said he didn’t have sex with that woman, Monica Lewinsky.�

Freeholders Ganz and McPherson have – contrary to their political propaganda – “assiduously avoided any meaningful attempt at ethics reform and are now presiding over the most corrupt administration in Bergen County history,� added Kaplan.
Kirk said Ganz and McPherson’s avoidance of ethics reform has cost taxpayers millions of dollars. “While they are claiming to have made ethics reforms, they have been funneling millions of dollars a year of taxpayer money to Democrat campaign donors. Their lies are atrocious and expensive.�
In their political mailer, Ganz and McPherson said they have made ethics reform a “top priority� – and that they have cut political favors.
“Not only are they lying, they are lying in the face of overwhelming evidence that they have done nothing except make Bergen County a cornerstone of political corruption,� said Kirk.
Kaplan and Kirk noted that Ganz and McPherson’s record on ethics reform has been criticized by the editors at The Record newspaper, which wrote on December 21, 2003:
“After promising during the 2002 campaign to outlaw the ugly practice known as “pay-to- play� Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney and the Democrat controlled freeholder board this week took only the tiniest of steps. ...Sadly there’s little indication that Mr. McNerney and the Democrats will take these or any other further steps. Instead they will continue to gobble up the big contributions…(Their reforms are) piddling maybe even a step backwards.� From December 21, 2003
In a Record editorial dated June 18, 2004, titled: “Inching toward reform,� the editors wrote:
“In January the Bergen Freeholders adopted a campaign contribution disclosure measure that’s as toothless as an earthworm.�
�The political reality in Bergen County is that if want to get a county government contract you donate money to the county organization… and Democrat Chairman Joseph Ferriero, -- who rewarded big contributors with more than $1 million in no bid contracts since January.
THE GOP ETHICS REFORM PLAN
Kaplan and Kirk said the political payoff system knows “pay to play is rampant in Bergen under Ganz and McPherson.�
The Democrats, they said, have stonewalled for two years on a proposal by Freeholder Randall to require full disclosure of all vendors coming before the freeholder board. In late September, the freeholder board granted nearly $900,000 in contracts to four engineering firms in a single action. Every one of them turned out to be major contributors to the Democrat Party in Bergen, Hudson, Middlesex and Camden Counties. None of this was known at the time of the vote.
“We would demand full disclosure of all campaign contributions to not just every elected official in county government, but to ALL state and county campaign funds in New Jersey for at least three years,� said Kaplan, the mayor of Norwood.
“That’s real ethics reform, not the phony window dressing that Ganz and McPherson have taken credit for.�
Kirk said the Republicans would also limit campaign contributions to county candidates to $5,200 and would end the practice of awarding no-bid contracts except in case of emergencies.
The no-bid ban also extends to all county agencies and boards. The Bergen GOP would implement a definitive Request for Proposal, or a Request for Qualifications process that would create a more open and competitive hiring process.
Kaplan said the GOP ethics reform plan calls for a ban on county contracts issued by the freeholders, the BCIA or BCUA to firms that employ a member of the immediate family of the freeholders the county executive, or the county administrator -- including spouses, or children. Currently, the spouses of two Democrat members of the freeholder board are employed by major law firms with major county contracts.