TRENTON — In a rare move, a legislative ethics committee has voted to draw up charges against a sitting assemblyman for the "appearance of impropriety." At issue is whether Assemblyman Scott Rumana (R-Passaic) violated the state Legislature's ethics code when he attempted to attend a meeting with the Board of Public Utilities regarding the non-profit Wayne Energy Corporation, of...
Clik here to view.
The New Jersey Legislature's ethics committee has voted to draw up charges against Assemblyman Scott Rumana (R-Passaic) for the 'appearance of impropriety.'TRENTON — In a rare move, a legislative ethics committee has voted to draw up charges against a sitting assemblyman for the "appearance of impropriety."
At issue is whether Assemblyman Scott Rumana (R-Passaic) violated the state Legislature's ethics code when he attempted to attend a meeting with the Board of Public Utilities regarding the non-profit Wayne Energy Corporation, of which he was the chairman.
"I have a general problem with the appearance or the intent to appear," said Neil Shuster, a member of the Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards. "I don't see any ill motive and I'm not suggesting there is."
The committee voted to prepare the charges 5-0, with one abstention. That vote came after the committee voted 4-2 against dismissing the charges altogether. If they accept the charges drawn up by its counsel, they’ll hold a hearing.
“I do think the intent here was to do something good for Wayne, but because we’re setting precedent for how people should behave, maybe we need to do something thinking more prospectively,” said committee member Nancy Erika Smith. “The way we read it, under these circumstances, it does have the appearance of impropriety.”
If found to have violated the code of ethics, Rumana could face a maximum fine of $10,000.
Rumana is the chairman of the corporation, which was formed when he was mayor of Wayne. The non-profit agency is meant to generate renewable energy for public buildings in Wayne, and he does not take any salary in the position.
The complaint was brought last year by Bill Brennan, who is running against Rumana in November’s legislative elections. The commission has dismissed seven other related complaints.
Rumana attorney Paul Josephson said Rumana wanted to sit in on a meeting regarding the Wayne Energy Corporation with the Board of Public Utilities. But he left after a deputy attorney general raised objections to him being there.
“Basically, where the committee stands right now is there is no specific prohibition on any of this stuff, so the only thing we could possibly look at is does it still create some sort of appearance problem,” said Josephson. “Our view is if it doesn’t violate the specific standards, it can’t violate the appearance standard. Because if it does there are going to be some specific impacts.”
The vote is the farthest the eight-member committee has gone on a complaint in years. Over the years, it developed a reputation for being toothless. In 2008, it was disbanded and reconstituted to exclude sitting lawmakers as members.
The committee’s chairman, Alan Rosenthal, voted to dismiss the charges and abstained on the vote to draw them up.
“I don’t think he did anything wrong at all. The behavioral accusations or complaints were disposed of at our last meeting,” he said. “We were only discussing how it might appear to people. To me this is a long, long way from crossing any lines.”
Rumana, for his part, said if he's charged it will open up the floodgates to reckless complaints against lawmakers.
"You are talking about opening up every single legislator – all 120 – to this same problem," he said. "Every legislator who serves on a non-profit capacity on hospitals, child care centers Boys and Girls Clubs – hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of these things, get money from the state."
Related coverage:
• Incumbent Republicans defend challenge in 40th Legislative District