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of hands-on government, and the unwieldy Wild West of a system that does not lend itself to easy supervision and control.

Significant reform of local government is attainable.

Specifically:

Replace the local government ethics laws, which are sorely lacking, with the Uniform Ethics Code. That code, which has real muscle and which now applies to the executive branch of state government, would redress the glaring deficiencies of the Local Government Ethics Law.

That law contains, among other shortcomings, no clear ban on gifts, no explicit ban on nepotism, insufficient disclosure requirements for business interests, no significant penalties for transgressions and no direct power to cause removal from office.

Bring local government within the jurisdiction of the State Ethics Commission.

Currently, local ethics laws are without a meaningful enforcement authority equipped to mete out real penalties for serious infractions. Moreover, there are no comprehensive ethics training or compliance protocols in place at the local level.

Centralizing the ethics laws and rendering the State Ethics Commission the unifying authority would remedy those deficiencies and promote the laudable aims of clarity, consistency and, most essentially, zealous enforcement.

Make real the promise of the Open Public Records Act and the Open Public Meetings Act at every level of government.

Too often, citizens meet closed doors and studied inaction in response to requests for access and information. Corruption thrives in secret, and sunlight remains "the best disinfectant."

Loopholes must be closed to disallow incumbents from holding more than one government position at the same time.

Similarly, the practice of elected officials holding non-elected public sector posts should be banned at every level of government. The NJ Policy Perspective reported that nearly 700 elected officials hold such posts.

The practice creates the potential for significant personal enrichment at public expense and all sorts of influence-peddling.

Make the Business Ethics Code, which regulates entities who do business with state government, applicable to local government. Recent experience makes plain that it is not enough to impose strictures on government employees. Most ethics violations do not occur without the participation and consent of third parties.

A uniform system of ethics laws would make the Business Ethics Code binding on those who do business or aim to do business at the local level of government.

Streamlining the administration of the state's ethics laws at every level of government has worked effectively in other states, including Pennsylvania and Illinois.

In New Jersey, centralizing the ethics rules would also allow for top-to-bottom mandatory and uniform ethics training, routine monitoring and public postings of financial disclosure forms.

When all is said and done, good government depends on accountability and transparency. Integrity is advanced when the rules of the game are fair, clearly understood and consistently applied.

Building and sustaining ethical cultures is a formidable enterprise. But the core premise is simple: public office is a public trust.

That public trust is now in the hands of our governor-elect. Our new governor should "gratify some of the people, and astonish the rest."

Paula A. Franzese, a law professor at Seton Hall University School of Law, is chairwoman of the state Ethics Commission.

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