Playing Politics With Pay to Play

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine is in a bind. He's trailing in most polls and faces an uphill battle to maintain the chief executive spot in the state. So what does he do; lower property taxes? Lower the sales tax? Uh no, he cheats:

A sweeping pay-to-play ban that curtails the ability of candidates to raise money - effectively handing an advantage to wealthy politicians who can fund their campaigns - will be tested for the first time in this year's governor's race.

...The untested campaign-finance law was written by former Gov. Jim McGreevey in 2004 just before he stepped down. At the time, McGreevey's administration was awash in a series of scandals.

McGreevey's executive order banned the state from awarding contracts of more than $17,500 to companies in which high-ranking officials contributed more than $300 to a gubernatorial candidate or state or county party organization.

So what does that mean? That means that challenger Chris Christie or Steve Lonegan will be unable to tap into the companies who have business with the state effectively cutting them off and in this state, everyone has a contract where state money is involved, me included.

But Corzine didn't just stop at the McGreevey parameters, he strengthened it more under the guise of stopping pay to play:

McGreevey's order covered contributors who controlled 10 percent or more of companies getting state contracts. Corzine included any partner, officer, or principal of a vendor firm, further limiting the number of people who would be willing to contribute to gubernatorial campaigns.

Because Corzine is funding his own campaign, he won't have to worry much about that law. But independent candidate Chris Daggett and the survivor of the increasingly heated Republican primary will.

Corzine is scamming the system to protect his seat and that is about as anti-American as any law can be. He's put together an elaborate ruse and effectively has shut down his opposition from obtaining money from a major source.

We're not Illinois politics but we're a close second.