A war of words

Published in the Asbury Park Press 10/23/03

Ethics reform, late taxes key topics in heated debate

By JASON METHOD
STAFF WRITER

NEPTUNE -- In a heated exchange, state Senate co-President John O. Bennett III, R-Monmouth, and Democrat Ellen Karcher accused each other of unethical behavior yesterday even as they expressed support for new laws to bar legislators from cashing in on their government positions.

Bennett said Karcher, the Marlboro Township Council president who is seeking Bennett's seat in the 12th Legislative District, would be beholden to Democratic leaders because she has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from the party.

Karcher said she could remain independent of party leaders. She said Bennett has done much to harm Marlboro by double-billing and overbilling taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars in unnecessary fees when he was the township attorney.

"(It's) my money, my property taxes, all the people in Marlboro," Karcher said.

Bennett shot back, "Oh, (property taxes) that you pay occasionally, you mean?"

Karcher has been criticized by Bennett for paying her local taxes late 22 times in the past five years.

Bennett and Karcher, as well as Green Party candidate Earl J. Gray Jr. of Red Bank, faced off before the Asbury Park Press editorial board yesterday. They outlined their positions on ethics proposals following the Asbury Park Press and Gannett New Jersey newspapers series titled "Profiting from Public Service." The series reported on the many ways lawmakers use their public offices for personal gain.

Marlboro billing brouhaha

Ethics has been a central issue in the state Senate race because of the controversy surrounding Bennett's legal billings in Marlboro.

Bennett charged more than $100,000 in fees for his unfinished seven-year rewrite of the Marlboro municipal code book. The Township Council hired a company this summer for $24,910 to redo the job.

Bennett was found to have subcontracted much of the work to another lawyer for $60 an hour while billing Marlboro $150 or $160 an hour. Karcher attacked the arrangement yesterday.

"No one knew. The mayor, the people on the council, had no idea that you were farming that work out and pocketing $100 an hour," Karcher said.

Bennett said he had received authorization from the township administrator to proceed on the project. He said he submitted a $90,000 estimate before beginning the work. A letter to Marlboro officials in 2000, at least two years after the project was started, said the updating of ordinances would cost $70,000 to $100,000.

The questions about Bennett's billings and Karcher's tax payment history sparked a tense exchange between the two.

After Bennett commented that Karcher paid her taxes "occasionally," the following took place:

Karcher: "That I pay every single time."

Bennett: "Late!"

Karcher: "Late. Oh, my goodness, they were late." (Said with sarcasm)

Bennett: "Yeah, they were."

Karcher: "Yeah, they were late." (Again, with sarcasm).

Bennett: "Twenty-two times."

Karcher: "Yes, and did you ever see the times that -- I know that you rail against opposition research -- but there is only one way you found out about that, by doing it against me. And you didn't find the times I paid (my taxes) early."

Sparring on nepotism

In other questions concerning ethics, Bennett said he would vote to ban nepotism, even though he has put relatives on the state payroll.

STAFF PHOTO: MICHAEL SYPNIEWSKI ELLEN KARCHER: "I have . . . nothing to gain (personally) in this. I have no law practice. I don't have a business . . . I saw an opportunity to run based on the job that I am doing in Marlboro."

Bennett came under fire last summer for having his mother and mother-in-law on his Senate office payroll for four years.

 

Each of the women worked for $9,000 a year and explained state programs to senior citizens. Bennett took them off his payroll after the arrangement was scrutinized in the Asbury Park Press and other news organizations.

Bennett said yesterday that both women "worked hard for minimum wage." But, he added, "if that's what people want -- I took them off the payroll. You need to be responsive and go forward if there's a perception something's wrong."

Bennett said his mother and mother-in-law were not pleased with the decision.

"Thanksgiving dinner won't be happy at the Bennetts'," he said.

Karcher, 39, said Bennett, 55, was insincere about banning nepotism.

But Karcher herself had voted to appoint her husband to an unpaid position as Marlboro council liaison to the Freehold Regional school board. She said she saw no conflict because the post paid no money. No one else wanted to do it, she said, and her husband is "not in a position to control the flow of money or hiring."

Karcher said she was opposed to nepotism but wanted to ensure any ban would be carefully crafted.

"We're not just firing our mother because it's politically expedient," she said, referring to Bennett.

When asked again whether her husband should have been appointed, Karcher said she would ask him to step down.

On 'pay to play'

STAFF PHOTO: MICHAEL SYPNIEWSKI JOHN O. BENNETT III: "In 30 years of practicing law, I have never had an ethics complaint filed against me. In 24 years in the Legislature I have never had an ethics complaint."

Both major-party candidates said they favored a ban on campaign contributions from those who do business with government, and Bennett noted that he had posted and voted for such a bill as a state senator.

Bennett, the managing partner of the Neptune branch of the Dilworth Paxson law firm, said the firm this year gave up the $20,000 fund he had maintained to donate to campaign funds for elected officials in towns where he or his law associates have contracts.

Bennett, however, said he was not opposed to large campaign war chests controlled by legislative leaders. Such political action committees help legislators remain independent of a governor, who also can raise large sums of money and can parcel it out to those he likes in the party -- and withhold it from party members his dislikes.

Bennett controls such a fund, called the Senate Republican Majority. He has received $10,000 in the current election.

Karcher has received at least $179,000 from the Senate Democratic Majority fund, according to her Oct. 6 campaign finance report. She said that she would vote to ban such leadership campaign accounts and that she can vote regardless of the wishes of her party leaders, in spite of the money she's received.

"I exhibit a lot of independence," Karcher said. "I'm an independent person, and I'm going to continue to be that."

Bennett also said he was not in favor of banning no-bid contracts. Through personal salaries and legal billings, his legal services have garnered at least $7.1 million in numerous no-bid contracts with local municipalities and school boards from 1992 through 2002.

Karcher criticized Bennett for the stance.

"Who are you representing?" Karcher asked "He has (had) multiple no-bid contracts: Sayreville, Keansburg, Colts Neck, Hopewell. Who is he answering to? Is he answering to the people who pay his salary there, or is he answering to the people who elected him, who put him into office in the first place?"

Bennett noted that Karcher's late father, former Democratic Assembly Speaker Alan J. Karcher, recommended him for the Sayreville job.

"I don't believe the cheapest professional is necessarily the best professional," he said. "Do you bid a doctor that's going to perform your operation? The cheapest is not necessarily the best."

Green Party platform

Gray, 74, the Green Party candidate, said he is running to limit the influence of campaign money given by large corporations to mainstream political parties. If elected, he said, he would support an overhaul of the state's ethics laws and work to pass stronger environmental laws.

"I'm not running simply against Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Karcher, I'm running against their parties," Gray said. "The leaders of those parties have capitulated to the special interests of the world, who are intent on the largest redistribution of wealth the world has ever seen."

Staff writer James W. Prado Roberts contributed to this story.