Pay-to-play ban pushed
in light of DWI incident
BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDE
Staff Writer

EDISON — The statements police said Councilman William Kruczak made during his recent arrest for drunken driving point to the need for a local pay-to-play ordinance, several residents said.

Resident and attorney Flavio Komuves pushed for the immediate adoption of a "strong, robust version of pay-to-play [ordinance] in the township."

Kruczak is entitled to his day in court to answer the charges, Komuves said.

But there is a need to hold public officials to a higher standard with local laws that show no tolerance for using public office for personal gain, he said.

South Plainfield police arrested Kruczak on July 30 and charged him with driving while intoxicated and refusal to take a Breathalyzer test.

Kruczak asked Officer Sherilyn Courtney, "Do you know who I am?" and told her to call Edison Deputy Police Chief Brent Papi to "make this whole thing disappear," according to the police report filed by Courtney.

Kruczak also told the officer she was underpaid and said he could get her a "$90,000-a-year job" in Edison, according to the police report.

The comments attributed to Kruczak in the police report require further study, Komuves said.

"But I will say that anyone who does use his or her position in public office for personal gain in any way has no business being in office," he said.

"Anytime anyone abuses their office, it is extremely dangerous. Any abuse of power has to be vigorously opposed by officials.

"I think Kruczak, as well as all of the other council members, should support local pay-to-play legislation as a means to hold themselves above scrutiny," he added.

Kruczak could not be reached for comment last week.

Komuves presented the Township Council with a strict version of pay-to-play legislation a couple of months ago. Council members told him they preferred to wait for the state Legislature to enact a measure.

But the state law, signed in early July, was not strong enough, Komuves said.

Satish Poondi, a Republican who ran against Kruczak in the 2003 election, also submitted his own version of a local pay-to-play ordinance to the council months ago.

Poondi called for Kruczak’s resignation at the Aug. 25 council meeting. He did so again in a separate interview last week.

"I just think that anything that puts Edison in a bad light illustrates the necessity for officials to show the public that any hint of impropriety will not be tolerated," Poondi said in the interview. "The pay-to-play legislation is one way to do that."

Poondi said he was not out to destroy Kruczak.

But when a problem reaches the level of using public office for personal gain, it is no longer personal, he said.

"When a person is willing to offer a $90,000-a-year job to get himself out of hot water, what is the guarantee that the same person, or someone else, won’t award hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of contract bids to garner a political donation," Poondi said.