N.J. may strengthen ‘pay-to-play’ law

Democratic lawmakers are introducing a bill to update New Jersey’s 6-year-old pay-to-play law.State Senator Loretta Weinberg,  the primary sponsor of the measure, said it would tighten restrictions on political donations and ban the practice of “wheeling.” Wheeling occurs when donors’ money is funneled from one political organization to another to avoid contribution limits.”This new bill will give us the ironclad restrictions against the practice of using campaign cash to influence decision makers that has, unfortunately, become  business as usual in the Garden State,” Weinberg said Monday.A spokesman for Senate Republicans says they support the concept of additional reforms, but want labor unions to be subject to the same contribution limits as state vendors.