To The Editor: The Herald recently reported on Gov. Jon Corzine's latest attempt at ethics reform in New Jersey. One of the items on the agenda is "pay-to-play" reform. "Pay-to-play" is a long-standing political money making scheme where contractors have given hundreds of thousands of dollars to political campaigns in order to win contracts and jobs. The state legislature announced a new "pay-to-play" law several years ago and hailed it as true reform. It is not. Here is what they called it, the "Fair and Open" process. The alternative is called the "Non-Fair and Open Process." Under the "Non-Fair and Open Process," local government cannot award a contract, for example to a professional, if that professional has given more than $300 to local candidates or parties. Under the "Fair and Open" process, a professional can max out the amount of money they give to the local candidates or parties and still get the job. I'm not making this up. This is the system set up by our eternally corrupt state legislature. Here is how it works. If the town wants to hire an engineer, they publish in the paper that they are taking bids. Then they award the job to the guy they want. There is no requirement that they award to the lowest bidder or to the most experienced firm. All they have to do is publish the opening and they are free to award the job to their cash cow. This is the "Fair and Open" process that Trenton created. It is specifically designed to continue "pay-to-play", not get rid of it. It is a legislative cover-up. The "Non-Fair and Open" process is much more fair and goes much further in eliminating "pay-to-play." In the "Non-Fair and Open" process, our hypothetical engineer is prohibited from giving more than $300 per year. The "Non-Fair and Open" process actually limits the influence of money on local government. So why did the legislature set it up with these labels? Because otherwise the cash cows would all be mooing somewhere else. The entire scheme is designed to punish those who limit their contributions and reward those who continue to fill the pig trough with cash. The labels are a fraud perpetrated by the state. The "Fair and Open" process is a scam. Back in the heyday of the Soviet Union, while the Communists were lying to the world about the repression of their own people, they had one newspaper. It was called Pravda. In Russian, Pravda means "Truth." That is the closest example I can think of to compare with the state-sponsored lie that is the "Fair and Open" process created by Trenton. It is a sham and a scandal and it should be eliminated in favor of a firm contribution limit beyond which no one gets a contract with a local government unit. MICHAEL J. DONOHUE South Dennis (ED. NOTE: The author is Dennis Township Republican leader.)