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Friday, February 09, 2007

How much can you dig up for a grand?

My newsroom colleague Gretchen Van Benthuysen posed this question: How come it costs $1,000 to run a background check on a Republican, but background checks on volunteers at schools cost $85?

She's got a good point. On today's page 3, we read that the Assembly is looking into requiring criminal background checks on volunteers who work for schools and other facilities that serve children. The checks, the story says, would cost about $85. On page 1, we have an article on the Monmouth GOP's plan to have candidates pay for their own background checks at $1,000 a pop. OK, so the candidate checks will look beyond criminal history, into any matrimonial or financial disasters or liens and civil court stuff. But that adds $915 to the cost? C'mon. The investigator is going to run the person's Social Security number and driver's license through a series of databases and print out any potential problem areas.

Nice job for the investigator. GOP leader Adam Puharic won't say who it is. He says the name will be on the records, then everybody will know who it is. Why won't he say so now. Is he afraid people will try to sweet-talk the person ahead of time?

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I suspect the opposing political party or candidate will spend at least $1,000 looking into the background of anyone that runs. Politics in Jersey is a full contact sport and no one likes surprises. To me, the money is well spent.

2/12/2007 03:43:00 PM  

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