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As the dust begins to settle from massive FBI busts that exposed a slew of New Jersey officials, state and city legislators are searching for ways to limit public corruption moving forward.

Monday marked the first hearing on corruption for the New Jersey Assembly Republican Policy Committee, with testimony from former prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, and members of the public at the Statehouse Annex in Trenton. Future hearings are planned for locations around the state, but haven't yet been scheduled.

In Jersey City, home to 15 of the 29 officials arrested for bribery or influence peddling last month, Democratic Ward E Councilman Steven Fulop recently proposed a "pay-to-play" ordinance that would bar those who are negotiating to be the designated developers for public projects from making campaign contributions to candidates or to elected officials who are involved in those projects.

After first identifying the extent and causes of statewide corruption, the Assembly hearings will aim to propose measures to prevent it, though the Republican Policy Committee does not have the power to introduce or approve official legislation.

"The goal is to try to change the perception or the reality that New Jersey has a whole lot of corruption," Assemblyman Jon Bramnick (R-Union), who chairs the committee, said.

The notorious events of July 23 also included the arrests of 15 individuals charged with aiding a $3 million international money-laundering scheme, among them five rabbis from the Syrian Jewish communities of Deal and Brooklyn. One of the Jewish defendants was charged with conspiracy to commit human organ trafficking.

The rest of the Republican Policy Committee, which has met other issues such as green energy, affordable housing, and school funding, includes Assemblywomen Dawn Marie Addiego (R-Burlington), Denise Coyle (R-Somerset), and Charlotte Vandervalk (R-Bergen), and Assemblymen David Rible (R-Monmouth), Scott Rumana (R-Passaic), and David Wolfe (R-Monmouth).

Members of the public aren't allowed to speak during State Senate and Assembly meetings, Bramnick explained. At committee meetings, the public can only talk about a specific bill that is under discussion, he said, making the corruption hearings a rare opportunity for regular citizens to directly address legislators about their concerns.

"Trenton is a system that limits public comment," Bramnick said. "There's never the opportunity for the public to generally speak on a topic."

Wolfe said that it's now important for legislators "to listen rather than preach."

Wayward conduct by New Jersey officeholders has always been a problem since Wolfe was elected in 1991, he said. Past ethics reform bills have addressed specific segments of corruption, such as dual office holding by public officials, Wolfe said, but haven't been all-encompassing.

"I don't think [the corruption hearings] are a knee-jerk reaction to what happened recently, though those are some of the issues we will be dealing with," Wolfe said.

A dual office-holding bill Gov. Jon Corzine signed last year was ineffective because it banned future officials from holding multiple positions, but allowed already elected legislators to keep any offices they held, Wolfe said.

While several high-profile Deal rabbis were charged with money laundering, Wolfe said that it's important not to assume that the rest of the Syrian Jewish community in the area is corrupt.

"Just like in any family or any group, there may be some people [in the Syrian community] who work at the limits of the law and are able to function in that capacity," Wolfe said.

Coyle said that besides for addressing the problem of dual office holding, New Jersey should look into eliminating dual public employment for legislators who have additional non-elected state jobs. Coyle resigned as Somerset County Freeholder when she ran for the Assembly in 2008, she noted.

One recommendation at the hearings that Coyle considered valuable was ethics training for public officials, proposed by Westfield white-collar crime attorney Robert Stahl. Stahl explained that many candidates have good intentions when they run for office, but don't realize they are violating the law when they encounter ethical gray areas, Coyle said.

Fulop, who is Jewish, initially made the proposal in 2007 in response to a political culture in Jersey City that saw developers receive free land, zoning changes, and tax abatements on properties that were not in the community's interest. In a 7-2 vote, the council became the first local body statewide to reject a pay-to-play ordinance in the introduction phase, Fulop said, preventing the council from holding a vote on its approval.

After a number of Jersey City officials took bribes from Solomon Dwek, who posed as a developer as the government's cooperating witness in the corruption busts, the current climate allowed Fulop to revisit pay-to-play reform, he said. The ordinance passed introduction Aug. 12 and goes to a final vote Sept. 9.

Officials like Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy continue to oppose the reform on grounds that it prevents the common man from using developers to raise sufficient funds for campaigns, even though the heavy influence of developers is what eliminates the common man from contending for public office to begin with, Fulop said.

"I didn't see Healy arguing for the common man when he raised $3 million in this election," Fulop said of this year's Jersey City mayoral race.

Jersey City's City Council is littered with dual and even triple office holders, public appointments are filled with nepotism, and officials regularly receive undisclosed perks such as free cars and gas, Fulop said. The same officials who preached in campaigns that they weren't corrupt were charged with bribery in the busts, he added.

"The culture breeds a situation where people are looking for how they can benefit themselves," Fulop said.

While ethics reform can curb the possibility of corruption, Fulop stressed that ultimately, the only way to ensure an honest government is to elect the right people.

"No amount of legislation is going to stop straight bribery," he said. "You can't entirely govern ethics."

The same is true for the Jewish community, Fulop said, as recovering from what he called "a tremendously bad year" for Jews in light of the busts and Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme depends on the quality of the leaders the community has in place.

"I think there is a lot of reputational repair that needs to be done," Fulop said.