By JIM WALSH
Gannett New Jersey
A South Jersey legislator wants the state to be able to suspend local elected officials who face criminal charges.
State Sen. Stephen M. Sweeney, D-3, said he will introduce a bill that would require that action against officials indicted for offenses that, upon conviction, would result in forfeiture of office.
Sweeney announced his proposal Friday in the wake of an FBI sting operation last month that ensnared 44 people on corruption or money-laundering charges. Several of those charged were mayors or other elected officials in New Jersey municipalities.
"Elected officials cannot effectively carry out the people's business from under a black cloud of suspicion and must step aside when charges are levied against them," Sweeney said in a statement. "If these public officials will not do the right thing and step down, the state needs a way to force them from office until they can clear their names."
Sweeney said the recent arrests "have shaken the public's faith in its elected leaders."
His bill, to be introduced when the Legislature returns for its fall session, would cover only "locally elected public officials, whose authority is designated under state statute."
A constitutional amendment would be needed to cover other elected officials, such as state legislators, he said.
Sweeney's measure would allow suspension without pay -- if state officials first conduct a hearing to preserve the accused official's rights.
"I think most people would support suspension from office without pay for anyone in government indicted on serious criminal charges," Sweeney said. Officials who are cleared could recover any pay that had been withheld, he said.
Sweeney said officials facing corruption charges sometimes stay in office "in order to leverage plea deals and more lenient sentencing, while others see refusing to resign their office as a way of maintaining their innocence."
Among the public officials arrested on July 23, Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano III resigned Friday. He had taken office just a month earlier.
Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell stepped down earlier last week.
Sweeney noted that his bill was similar to a 2002 proposal by then-Sen. George Geist, a Gloucester Township Republican. The measure seeks to balance "the rights of accused individuals with the greater public good," he said.
Meanwhile, Republican legislators have called on Gov. Jon S. Corzine to convene a special session of the Legislature to address ethics reform. Legislators are on summer break.
Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce on Friday noted that, under current state law, "There is nothing on the books that would require officials convicted of corruption to forfeit all of their public pensions and benefits."
Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts, D-Camden, on Wednesday suspended the salaries and benefits for two legislators caught in the probe -- Assembly members Daniel Van Pelt, R-Ocean County, and L. Harvey Smith, D-Hudson.
Roberts also suspended the salary and benefits of Assemblyman Joseph Vas, D-Middlesex, who faces corruption charges in a separate case. Van Pelt resigned from the Assembly on Friday.