NJ News & Views

There was an empty seat on the dais where members of the Jackson Township Committee were seated during their March 27 meeting. According to the name plate in front of the dais, the empty chair belonged to Committeeman Michael Kafton, the only member of the governing body absent that evening.

On Friday, March 24, NJ News & Views reported that the state had sent Kafton a notice of ethics violation exactly one month earlier and that the Democrat had responded with a request for a hearing. Kafton did not return a call for comment made through Kathy Sheehan, his public relations representative.

Sheehan asked the reporter for the Internet address of NJ News & Views, where the article reporting the state's ethic determination against Kafton was posted the Friday before the committee meeting. Several days after the committee meeting Kafton did not attend, Sheehan issued a press release from him that reported the state's determination he had committed an ethics violation and Kafton's request for a hearing to overturn it.

The violation was determined to have occurred on February 26, 2001, shortly after Kafton took office. At that time, Kafton voted with other committee members to approve payment for snow removal services by Bil-Jim Construction Company for $36,157.50. Kafton's company, Pinnacle Title Agency, was providing services to Bil-Jim when the vote was taken.

The violation came to the state's attention through a complaint filed in 2003 by William Allmann, Kafton's Republican opponent during his reelection campaign that year.

Allmann alleged that Kafton used his position as an elected official to benefit clients of his title agency. The Republican filed a complaint with the Local Finance Board of the Department of Community Affairs, which investigates charges of ethics violations. The Board made a determination in July 2005 that Kafton should have recused himself during the vote Allmann alleged was an ethical violation. The Board assessed Kafton a $100 fine, which it waived.

Since he was sworn into office on January 1, 2001, Kafton has straddled a fine line between what was legal and what was ethical.

In 2004, Kafton ran for and won election to the 5-member Charter Study Commission, which examined the current government of Jackson and alternatives to it. During monthly commission meetings, members of the governing body on which Kafton also sits answered questions about the current form of government. The only committee member who declined to answer commissioners' questions was Kafton, who cited a conflict of interest that apparently did not prevent him from serving on both panels at the same time.

Kafton's reason for seeking a seat on the commission was as contradictory as his presence there as a committeeman.

According to his campaign literature, Kafton ran for the commission on the platform of a directly-elected mayor. Once he was seated on the commission, Kafton told a reporter he had not yet made up his mind whether to vote for a change of government. However, in July 2005, Kafton voted with a majority of commission members to recommend a change of government to one with a directly-elected mayor, for which he is now campaigning.

In order to qualify for the race, Kafton's public relations representative solicited petition signatures in January from needy residents waiting in the parking lot of the Food Pantry to register for services. The Food Pantry, a non-profit organization run by the Jackson Women of Today, is located on township-owned property. Sheehan also solicited signatures from registered voters at the township's Senior Center before being told to leave.

Township Administrator Andrew J. Salerno told a reporter in early February that Sheehan's activities, which Kafton said he had approved, "could have been not proper, but not illegal." That is exactly the point.

Elected officials have a greater obligation than ordinary citizens to distance themselves from situations that may be legal, but convey the appearance they are not. Voters also have an obligation as informed citizens to assess the professional and personal behavior of any candidate seeking public office, as well as his or her record of accomplishment.

Although Kafton has responded to his constituency with programs and services that many have said benefited them, he was arrested in Belmar last year for driving while intoxicated, possession of marijuana, possession of a chemical substance, failure to stop at a stop sign and failure to signal left before turning.

On November 30, he pled guilty to DWI and his driver's license was suspended for three months. The traffic violations and charges of marijuana possession were dropped. Kafton is currently serving a one year probation as a first time offender for possession of a chemical substance.

On May 9, Kafton will face the court of public opinion as voters take to the polls to elect a new government of Jackson. If he wins his race, Kafton will take a seat with other newly-elected members of government. His ethics will determine if he keeps it.