Jackson council supports Assembly ethics reform
BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer

Ann Updegrave

JACKSON - All government officials must be accountable to their constituents at all levels of government. That was the message delivered by Councilwoman Ann Updegrave at the Nov. 13 Township Council meeting during council comments.

"In New Jersey, more and more we are hearing of public officials being accused of unethical or criminal behavior," said Updegrave. "In the past five years more than 97 public officials have either been indicted or have pleaded guilty to criminal charges."

Updegrave said residents are becoming increasingly cynical about government ever being truly ethical or accountable to the people.

"In response to this alarming trend the state Assembly is pro-posing an 11-point plan called the Blueprint for a Corrupt-Free New Jersey," the councilwoman said. "This plan addresses issues such as dual office holding, campaign finance reform, nepotism, public pension tacking and boosting, streamlining the ethics complaint process, mandatory jail time and full pension forfeiture for convicted public officials."

Updegrave said these issues have now touched the lives of Jackson residents at the local level.

"Upon election, an official takes an oath and pledges to perform all the duties of office with honesty, integrity and responsibility to the people," said Updegrave. "The council members, mayor and business administrator who began their terms of office on July 1 all pledged accountability to the community. [Demonstrating] responsibility and honesty they put forth open public forums to the residents of Jackson, subjecting them to every scrutiny."

Updegrave said Jackson's officials did not run and hide and they did not lie about the township's financial state of affairs. Instead, she said, they pledged accountability, honesty, integrity and responsibility to the law.

The committeewoman questioned the ethics of previous Jackson administrations.

"For approximately six years prior, accountability seemingly ceased to exist in Jackson," said Updegrave. "With violations of state budget laws and misuse of taxpayers' money, our predecessors ran away from their broken oaths of office with little accountability to anyone until now."

When asked to be more specific regarding her comment, Updegrave said there were state budget flaws within the past two years of the prior administration, and there are other issues officials are looking into.

"We're compiling [that information]," the councilwoman said. "Seemingly, there are other things that went on prior that we're looking into the background and the back-up to prove our point. We don't have everything together yet. We're going to be forwarding documents to the state Department of Community Affairs and if need be it will go further."

Updegrave said she was declaring her support for the Assembly's 11-point ethics reform agenda and asked the other council members to join her in a resolution.

These proposals mean as much at the local level as they do on the state level, she said.

"All government officials must be accountable to their constituents at all levels of government," said Updegrave. "We must perform our duties within the confines of the law or face true consequences."

Later in the meeting the council members voted 5-0 to approve a resolution urging bipartisan action by the state Legislature on ethics reform.