N.J. SPORTS AUTHORITY'S WASTEFUL & EXTRAVAGANT SPENDING REINFORCES NEED FOR AUDITOR GENERAL

MORE EXAMPLES UNCOVERED OF STATE EMPLOYEES TRAVELING TO EXOTIC RESORTS AND EATING LAVISH MEALS AT STRUGGLING TAXPAYERS' EXPENSE

      Republican members of the Assembly Tourism and Gaming Committee, Alison Littell McHose and Vince Polistina, decried the latest example of a state agency spending luxuriously on food and travel without concern about the plight of the state taxpayers who pay their bills.

      New Jersey 101.5 FM reported today that the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which is receiving $37.6 million from state taxpayers this year, has not followed its own policy to "exercise the same prudent care in incurring travel related costs that they would if such costs were not being reimbursed to them.

      Documents obtained by Assembly Republicans from the authority reveal:

* The authority's president spent more than $4,400 to attend Super Bowl XLII in Arizona while he stayed at the $447-per-night Wigwam Golf Resort & Spa and bought a $900 ticket to watch the New York Giants upset the then-undefeated New England Patriots.

* The authority's president spent $332 on a dinner for two at the Village Green in Ridgewood where "high-quality cooking comes with equally high prices, but tabs are of little concern to fans who like the best."

* An authority vice president, while traveling to Dallas for an unspecified conference, had taxpayers pay $17 for a one-day pass to an upscale club that "boasts an elite membership of business owners, executives and professionals pursuing personal wellness away from the crowds one often experiences at typical health clubs.

      "These expenditures show sheer contempt for the people of New Jersey who have been struggling with the nation's highest property tax burden while trying to remain in their home state," McHose, R-Sussex, Morris and Hunterdon, said. "Governor Corzine promised to keep a vigilant watch over how New Jersey spends our dollars, but he has failed to get the state's various agencies to exercise any restraint. This worsens our state's horrible tax climate and hastens the exodus of our hard-working families and businesses that had once supplied them with jobs."

      Polistina, R-Atlantic, said the examples uncovered at the sports authority give more credence to an Assembly Republican initiative to combine the state's duplicative auditing agencies, whose exposure of waste in government has often been ignored, into one Office of Auditor General, an independent elected position that would have the ability to recoup taxpayer dollars improperly spent and punish those responsible.

    "There have been endless audits, reports and investigations that show our current system is ineffective at stopping wasteful government spending that robs money directly from families who cannot afford to subsidize state employees who want to eat and travel like kings," Polistina said. "New Jersey's system of checks and balances is broken. That is blatant, especially after this latest revelation, to everyone in New Jersey - except for Governor Corzine and the Democrats who control the Legislature."

    A detailed list of sports authority findings is available at www.njassemblyrepublicans.com.