Borough Overexplains Its Cozy Ties With T&M Associates

The only advantage I can see to having a local press that treats governmental press releases as the whole story is that the government sometimes reveals its hidden agenda as it attempts to fill the echoing silence resulting from an utter lack of balanced political rebuttal with hints of guilt, shame, or other political baggage. Consider it the glass half full.

Nowhere is this more evident than in tomorrow's Independent, which includes Borough Administrator Wiliiam Garofalo's lengthy justification of Matawan's choice of T&M Associates to prepare a $20,000 energy audit for the Borough. In this press release, Garofalo tries to make this significant payment to the incumbent party's largest political contributor disappear like a rabbit into a magician's hat.

The Council is apparently feeling the heat from public scrutiny of Pay to Play. So the very appearance of impropriety in this matter has caused the Borough Administrator to overexplain the position of the Council in the attached defensive song and dance release to the media. Shakespeare was right when he wrote: The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Nothing illegal is going on, of course. But Pay to Play is becoming such a stain on New Jersey society that our politicians now squirm whenever any light shines on their attempts to participate in their repulsive little financial quid pro quos with contributors. Even though it may make perfect sense for Matawan to use an engineering firm it is already familiar with, who really believes that residents won't pay more in the end due to favoritism and backroom deals? Why else pay to play? And who believes that these cozy relationships between politicians and donors won't eventually lead down an even slipperier slope?