15 Democrats co-sponsor bill to ban hiring corrupt officials (after Murphy hires one)

TRENTON, N.J. — A face saving gesture?

A proverbial smack in the face to Governor Phil Murphy?

Or a little of both?

On Thursday, Republican Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi (R-39) of Bergen County secured half of the legislature to support A4584, a bill which if adopted would establish “procedures for disqualification from public office or employment upon conviction of certain crimes” as well as create a registry of disqualified individuals.  

The co-sponor list includes 15 Democrats.

Schepisi’s idea didn’t come to being in a vacuum; the Murphy Administration recently hired former Passaic City Councilman Marcellus Jackson who plead guilty to attempted extortion following a state-wide sting operation — “Operation Broken Records” — executed during Chris Christie’s U.S. Attorney tenure. Jackson admitted accepting $26,000 as a quid pro quo for influencing the fate of public insurance contracts; he was sentenced to 25 months in a federal facility.

Jackson is now in a $70,000 position as a “special assistant to the state commissioner of education” paid for by the New Jersey taxpayer. Murphy defended the move when questioned by a usually compliant media, declaring that such hires will be “the new norm.

Schepisi

Here’s the list:

  1. Bob Andrzejczak (D-1)
  2. R. Bruce Land (D-1)
  3. John J. Burzichelli (D-3)
  4. Patricia Egan Jones (D-5)
  5. Carol A. Murphy (D-7)
  6. Joe Howarth (R-8)
  7. Ryan E. Peters (R-8)
  8. Dianne C. Gove (R-9)
  9. Brian E. Rumpf (R-9)
  10. Gregory P. McGuckin (R-10)
  11. David W. Wolfe (R-10)
  12. Joann Downey (D-11)
  13. Eric Houghtaling (D-11)
  14. Robert D. Clifton (R-12)
  15. Ronald S. Dancer (R-12)
  16. Serena DiMaso (R-13)
  17. Amy H. Handlin (R-13)
  18. Daniel R. Benson (D-14)
  19. Wayne P. DeAngelo (D-14)
  20. Andrew Zwicker (D-16)
  21. Joseph V. Egan  (D-17)
  22. Robert Karabinchak (D-18)
  23. Jon M. Bramnick (R-21)
  24. Nancy F. Munoz (R-21)
  25. John DiMaio (R-23)
  26. Erik Peterson (R-23)
  27. Parker Space (R-24)
  28. Harold J. Wirths (R-24)
  29. Anthony M. Bucco (R-25)
  30. Michael Patrick Carroll (R-25)
  31. Bettylou Decroce (R-26)
  32. Jay Webber (R-26) 
  33. John F. McKeon (D-27)
  34. Edward H. Thomson (R-30)
  35. Gordon M. Johnson (D-37)
  36. Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-37)
  37. Robert Auth (R-39)
  38. Christopher P. DePhillips (R-40)
  39. Kevin J. Rooney (R-40)

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