Full Notification

*Calls on Council to vote on anti-wheeling and pay-to-play reforms*

Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer announced a series of ethics and campaign finance reform measures and called on the City Council to pass critical campaign finance reform legislation.

“Hoboken is a great, vibrant city with a rich history and so much to be proud of, but we also bear a legacy that we are not so proud of,” said Mayor Dawn Zimmer. “We must take a proactive approach to address corruption. These common sense reforms hold our government to a higher standard and are necessary to continue to restore the public’s trust in government.”

Mayor Zimmer called on the City Council to vote on anti-wheeling and pay-to-play legislation to close loopholes in campaign finance laws and strengthening existing pay-to-play laws.

“We recently learned only as a result of former Mayor Cammarano’s plea agreement that in just last 11 days of his campaign, he raised $292,000 – more than $100,000 of it from outside money that flowed into our City through political committees,” added Mayor Zimmer. “And during the last election, a political committee was used to skirt individual campaign finance limits. I call on the Council to vote on this important anti-wheeling and pay-to-play legislation, which is modeled on laws in other New Jersey jurisdictions, to close these loopholes and ensure that we have fair and transparent elections."

Mayor Zimmer also signed a series of executive orders today enacting ethics and campaign finance reforms in Hoboken and urged the City Council to pass legislation codifying the reforms.

The executive orders:

• Mandate ethics and anti-sexual harassment training for all public employees
• Ban workplace violence, harassment, and incivility
• Mandate the forfeiture of city health benefits for dishonorable service
• Ban nepotism in City government
• Ban political fundraising on public property
• Mandate an honor code for accepting recreation fees
• Mandate a code of conduct for the recreation Department and all City recreation activities

The executive orders take effect immediately, but future mayors could choose not to honor them. An ordinance mirroring these reforms will be introduced before the City Council.

“I call on the Council to make these reforms permanent by codifying them through the accompanying ordinance,” said Mayor Zimmer. “These reforms are important for building a positive and safe work environment, restoring trust in government, and protecting the City financially.”

For links to download the executive orders, visit: http://www.hobokennj.org/news/mayor-zimmer-announces-ethics-and-campaign-finance-reform-package/