Chamber of Commerce Speech

The following is the text of the 5-minute speech given by Freeholder Candidate Charles Woodrow to the Gloucester County Chamber of Commerce, at their "Meet the Candidates" luncheon on 10-07-2005:



When I say something like “You Folks”, I will be referring to business people, particularly those who do business with the state or local government, or who aspire to.

These days both major parties are preoccupied with soliciting campaign contributions from businesses of all sizes. The politicians themselves complain about the amount of time they have to spend doing these solicitations. But they do them for a very good reason. The reason is that the candidate who raises the most campaign money wins 96% of the time. (That is based on U.S.Congressional races).

I am sure some of you out there actually make political contributions for the sake of “Good Government”. Although one might dispute the idea that “good government” can arise from a system in which the elections are virtually always won by whichever candidate can afford the most negative TV ads.

I would assume that most of you, being business persons, make such contributions because they are good for your business. Or maybe because the failure to make them would be bad for your business. You perceive, reasonably, that you have a better chance of getting business from state and local governments if you have given money to the incumbents than if you haven’t.

Capitalism, in its ideal form, promotes competition between businesses. Competition rewards hard work, innovation, a job well done.

But today, you are no longer competing for government business on the basis of your hard work, or through the high quality of your services, or with your innovative ideas. You are competing to spend the highest dollar amount on political contributions among companies in your field.

And that is a competition which the largest and richest corporations will win every time.

Your largest competitors have a huge competitive advantage which goes way beyond their size alone. They can afford the perfectly legal political payoffs required to get the government contracts which you may be equally qualified to perform.

I will not even get into the tax breaks and subsidies often written into legislation for specific large corporations.

It is not unusual for a New Jersey state legislator to receive well over a million dollars in campaign contributions. Well over half of that generally comes through political committees. The big contributors route their money through such committees to avoid spending limits and to obscure their identities. And it’s legal.

So what would make this situation better? I believe that most of you truly believe that “fairer” would be better. You are proud of your products and services and you are prepared to compete. You just want a level playing field.

Two things would help level the playing field. One is campaign finance reform. The other is the elimination of Pay-to-Play in all of its manifestations. These have been two of the Green Party’s signature issues for many years.

The state legislature has made a half-hearted attempt recently to “be seen as” addressing both issues. They may eventually succumb to public pressure to provide real reform. The Green Party will be among those applying the pressure. Voting Green is a way of expressing your displeasure with the inherent unfairness in the existing Campaign Financing and Play-to-Pay systems.

In addition to “advocating” clean campaigns, Green Party candidates run them, by refusing to accept contributions from corporations, businesses, developers, PACs, or special interests.

If elected to the job of Freeholder, I will propose a Pay-to-Play ordinance for the county, which, by the way, does not have one. My proposal will look at money routed through political committees, and money for non-Freeholder campaigns, such as when a Freeholder also runs for a legislative office. Plus it will eliminate no-bid contracts.

I will also propose a “conflict-of-interest” ordinance, which will require a Freeholder to abstain from voting on any motion which stands to directly benefit a campaign contributor.

I will ask for the public’s help in putting pressure on the Freeholders to adopt these ordinances.

One more thought:

The Gloucester County Board of Freeholders is currently comprised of seven Democrats. I am the only Independent running. Regardless of what happens in this election, the Democrats will control the Board.

So, if elected, I will have no power to make policy, just the power to influence it. There can be no Green control, but there can be Green “input”.

If you are interested in having a diversity of ideas, and a diversity of points of view, represented on the Board of Freeholders, then this is your opportunity.

Thank you.