the price of pAY-to-pLAY
Senator seeks to ban corrupt contractors from public jobs,
TRENTON — State Sen. Shirley Turner is looking to forever ban corrupt contractors and give equal pay to lacrosse refs.
Turner’s bill to bar corrupt companies from securing public contracts was approved by a legislative committee Monday.
“If you’ve ripped off the taxpayer once, you lost the public’s trust and shouldn’t be given a chance to do it again,” Turner stated in a press release. “We’ve seen far too many people practice the art of deception when it comes to business dealings, and the public’s hard-earned dollars need to be protected.”
Currently, corrupt contractors can be barred for up to five years.
Turner cited the engineering firm Birdsall Services Group whose executives pleaded guilty to pay-to-play violations as her justification for the legislation. Birdsall, who had contracts locally with Hamilton, received a 10-year ban as a penalty.
“The bill protects the taxpayers while not making it onerous on local governments during the procurement process to determine who has a clean track record,” Turner said.
The longtime 15th district senator also had a bill to equal the pay scale for girls’ and boys’ lacrosse refs clear a legislative committee on Monday.
Under current term, officials of girls’ lacrosse games are paid $124 per game, while boys’ officials earn $135 a game.
Turner, who has advocated for the change since last fall, said the girls’ games are predominately officiated by women.
“The disparity in pay sends the wrong message that a women’s work is somehow of less value and goes against everything we as a society and a state should stand for,” Turner said. “That the message is being sent in our high schools makes the whole situation even more troubling, and it should be quickly reversed.”