Now that the election is over, it is time for the five-member Board of Freeholders to come together and adopt a strong ethics structure to give the county the watchdog agency it needs to help ensure honest government.

The two Republican freeholders have been battling efforts by the three Democrats to establish an ethics board that would promulgate and administer a county ethics code. Action on an ethics resolution could come soon. The recommendation for the board and code originated from a truly blue ribbon ethics review committee appointed by the freeholders.

Freeholder Robert D. Clifton has been the biggest stumbling block, arguing that the ethics board would be too powerful and too costly to run. And now Freeholder Lillian G. Burry has picked up the chant, claiming it would create another level of government, adding that the county can't afford it.

What they are not saying is that many Republicans still do not like to bring up the touchy subject of county ethics because it dredges up memories of the Operation Bid Rig scandal four years ago when more than two dozen Monmouth County and other officials were arrested in an FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office corruption sweep.

That sweep also scooped up the late longtime former Republican Board of Freeholders Director Harry Larrison Jr. The freeholder board was all-GOP at the time and county government was loaded with patronage, cronyism and favoritism.

It was a shameful period in county history. And Monmouth still bears the scars of those terrible days. The county, as a result of that nightmare, is still often referred to statewide as "Hudson County with lawns."

So, to prevent another Operation Bid Rig from happening and to establish an ethics agency with teeth, the county appointed the first-rate ethics review committee that carefully examined existing policies, procedures and an employee manual, concluding: "The existing structure is in need of revision."

What the freeholders should do now is approve the recommendations of the ethics review committee that includes the establishment of a nonpartisan, independent ethics board that would serve without compensation. Monmouth County residents would be served well by this arrangement.

Freeholder John D'Amico Jr., a retired Superior Court judge, favors the board. He said the expense would be minimal "and well worth the value of such a board in preventing future corruption."

Consideration also must be given to where the recommendations came from: the pro bono bipartisan ethics review committee consisting of retired former New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice James R. Zazzali, retired former Superior Court Judge Alexander D. Lehrer and former Freeholder Director Thomas J. Powers. As an ethics committee, it doesn't get any better than that.

In addition, Zazzali is a former state attorney general. Lehrer is a former county prosecutor. Powers has seen the freeholder board at its best and its worst. His perspective on the committee has been invaluable.

There are those who believe that law enforcement agencies should be the ones to keep a watchful eye on county government. But Bid Rig showed dramatically that the county Prosecutor's Office and the state Attorney General's Office should not be left alone in performing this important watchdog task.

Those offices were asleep during the Bid Rig period and, ironically, it took the U.S. Attorney's Office, then headed by Christopher J. Christie, now New Jersey's GOP governor-elect, to uncover the corruption, the bribery, the fraud and the waste that were running rampant in county government.

County residents were stunned at the time when Christie said of Larrison after he was charged by the FBI with taking bribes:

"Harry Larrison is one of the enduring political figures in Monmouth County and long held himself out to be a fine public servant. In fact, as alleged, he used his power, prestige and political clout to corruptly serve himself."

Not only that, but the freeholders of the past refused to take a stand on the renaming of a Brookdale Community College building called Larrison Hall. That means that Brookdale continues to be the only institution of higher education in the state that has an academic building named after a former public official charged with corruption.

That all could change after newly elected freeholder John P. Curley takes office. Curley, who often displays a streak of political independence, favors a new name for Larrison Hall. And so does D'Amico. Maybe they can team up to get the Brookdale board of trustees to take action.

But this all goes to show that there is a great deal of work to be done in the ethics area in county government. That's why the recommendations of the ethics review committee should be adopted as rapidly as possible.

Arthur Z. Kamin, Fair Haven, is an independent journalist.