Pointing to the colossal N.J. sting operation in July and the fallout in Hudson, Corzine said that accepting campaign contributions in cash in exchange for favors is highly unacceptable.
"None of this is attractive," Corzine said. "The discussion of it undermines the credibility of government in the public's mind and makes even stronger the argument that we need to take steps to give people assurance that this behavior is going to change."
Pay-to-play, or commercial bribery, gets at defining what might be legal in today's context, but to the public, it looks pretty unethical on any basis, he said.
He also made this observation:
"People need to be very focused on the quality and character of the candidates," Corzine said. "At the end of the day, if somebody wants to cheat, we can probably write the strictest laws in the world and you will still find people circumventing those kinds of challenges."
That would be more convincing if he didn't go out of his way to excuse those who circumvent the law:
Corzine said he feels [Jersey City Mayor] Healy should absolutely not resign based on the available facts. Healy has made his case that he did nothing wrong within the context of the law, he said.
If our reformers excuse people like this, no wonder there's no achievements on the corruption front.
