The Bergen County Freeholder Board defeated a resolution Wednesday that would have strengthened county pay-to-play regulations.

The decision to reject the resolution was made along party lines, with Republicans Robert Hermansen and John Driscoll voting in favor of it and four Democrats voting against it.

The resolution, which was not listed on Wednesday's meeting agenda, would have limited individuals' campaign contributions to $300 per candidate for each election cycle. Similar resolutions have been enacted in Mercer, Monmouth and Atlantic counties.

Heather Taylor, a spokeswoman for the Center for Civic Responsibility, an advocacy group for pay-to-play reform that helped draft the resolution, described the defeat as a disappointment. "The legal underpinnings that have been the foundation of that resolution have been upheld in the courts," she said.

Hermansen said he plans to propose another pay-to-play resolution at the next freeholder meeting. "The Democrats had the opportunity to do something right for the taxpayers of Bergen County, and yet again, they failed miserably," he said.

Democratic Freeholder David Ganz said he opposed the resolution because he thinks it violates the U.S. Constitution. He also said a stricter law, if created, should be uniform throughout the state.

"If you want to regulate this … then it should be a statewide regulation," he said. "We spoke with [state Sen. Loretta] Weinberg recently, and she reiterated that she's working on such a solution."

Weinberg, D-Teaneck, confirmed that she is working on a state law, but also noted that she has not discouraged the county freeholders from drafting a stricter ordinance in the meantime.

"I believe there should be a statewide standard — that there is much too much confusion on the variety of regulations that exist on the county and municipal levels," she said. "But I do believe that as many jurisdictions as possible should have tough ordinances on pay-to-play until we can establish a new state standard."