By Cristina Kumka
Staff Writer | July 16 2008

Englewood — A recent front page article in The Record has prompted city officials to take action against political patronage – by adopting a law that would require developers to disclose which city official they’ve donated to and what those developers get in return.

Under a new law the City Council proposed July 8, any developer who applies to the city’s Planning Board or Board of Zoning Adjustment to build a project will be required to fill out a disclosure form before either board hears their plan.

Developers would list any contributions, exceeding $300 within the last year, they’ve made to any member of the boards, elected officials included.

Council President Ken Rosenzweig also wants developers to publicly declare which member they donated to before their plan is presented, exposing to the public what money is changing hands and how that possibly relates to the approvals granted, he said.

"Last year, you had six members who had run for office or held office in Englewood sitting on the Planning Board," Rosenzweig said. "Now if the members themselves or project applicants made political contributions, that’s something the public would want to know."

The council’s push for a political contribution law was fueled by a recent report in The Record which used state Election Law Enforcement Commission reports to reveal that developers, their attorneys and individual members of the Planning Board donated a reported $50,000 to the campaign of Mayor Michael Wildes. Wildes is a Planning Board member and the only city official who appoints members to the boards affected by the new ordinance.

Previous investigations by the Northern Valley Suburbanite confirmed the donations and revealed that former Planning Board member Vernon Walton directly and indirectly received approximately $20,000 in political donations from a developer, then months later, voted to approve that developer’s $200 million project.

There are currently no laws on the books that restrict appointed or elected city officials from taking contributions from developers then voting on projects from them, interim City Manager Robert Casey said earlier this year. It’s merely a question of ethics, he said.

According to information Casey provided, development approvals made by the two city boards over the last five years have led the city to gain an estimated $2 million in new tax revenue in 2008. Critics of the Planning Board’s approval process claim the city could have made more revenue if political contributions weren’t a factor in decision-making.

But when the proposed contribution law, scheduled for introduction in early August, takes affect, Rosenzweig said transparency would increase, allowing the public to think twice about the intentions of their public officials.

"It’s a legal thing to do [to give contributions], but it gives the implication of purchasing a vote," Rosenzweig said.

"Now if that information is public, it changes the tenor of the Planning Board and it levels the playing field. People can question the arguments of certain Planning Board members in favor of a project if they received money from that project developer," he said.

But not all city leaders agree that the only intention of the proposed law is to increase public awareness.