Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce, Conference Leader Peter Biondi and Assemblyman Kevin O'Toole

DeCROCE, BIONDI AND O'TOOLE CALL ON DEMOCRATS,
OLS TO TURN OVER DOCUMENTS TO U.S. ATTORNEY NOW

Republican Leaders Insist 'Not a Dime of Taxpayer Dollars'
Should be Wasted Defending Political Pork'

Reacting to revelations by The Star-Ledger of Newark, three high ranking Republicans in the Assembly today called on Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts and Senate President Richard J. Codey to order an immediate end to legal efforts designed to block the U.S. Attorney's Office unfettered access to legislative documents it needs to pursue its investigation into political corruption.

Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce, Assembly Republican Conference Leader Peter J. Biondi and Assemblyman Kevin O'Toole called it "incomprehensible" that the Legislature and the Office of Legislative Services would rather challenge the U.S. Attorney's ability to obtain documents related to the authorization and expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars on political "pork" projects than cooperate freely with the wide-ranging federal probe.
"Why would Democrats who control both houses of the Legislature even consider standing in the way of the U.S. Attorney?" asked DeCroce, R-Morris and Passaic. "If legislators have made deals to enrich themselves, relatives or friends at the taxpayers' expensive, we should be welcoming the U.S. Attorney with open arms and cooperating freely and gladly with his investigation.

"When political corruption is so rampant in New Jersey, with over a hundred public officials convicted in just five years, the mere thought that Democrat leaders and the Office of Legislative Services believe it is more important to shield legislators who have may have abused their official position for financial gain is staggering, reprehensible and just plain wrong."

The Star-Ledger reported on Sunday that the Legislature has retained independent legal counsel to fight a federal subpoena seeking internal memos, e-mails and other records that the Legislature generates each year when putting together the annual budget, particularly those involving so-called "Christmas tree" items that are funded by way of a secret process to send millions of dollars to legislative districts controlled by the ruling party.

The office of U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie needs the documents in connection with an inquiry into potential legislative conflicts, and specifically whether some elected officials steered money to nonprofit organizations or institutions that would have benefited themselves, friends or family, according to four sources with direct knowledge of the investigation.

According to The Star-Ledger report, Newark attorney Edward Dauber has been hired to represent the Legislature in to contest the federal subpoena. Dauber is a former assistant U.S. attorney and has served as the executive assistant state attorney general. He is charging the Legislature $275 an hour, which goes up to $300 an hour for court time.

Both sides are expected to square off Wednesday at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Mary Cooper in Trenton over whether he Legislature can be forced to turn over records it considers confidential.

"There's been a lot of talk about ethics reform and open government in the Legislature and bringing 'transparency' to the budget process," noted Biondi, R-Somerset and Morris.

"Hiring high-paid attorneys to block U.S. Attorney Chris Christie's probe into the potential misuse of the taxpayers' money is contrary to everything Roberts and Codey have been saying and everything Republicans have been fighting for. Now we know why every point of our Assembly Republican Blueprint for a Corrupt-Free New Jersey - the toughest ethics reform package ever put forth by either party - has never seen the light of day.

"We now know why Democrat legislative leaders are more intent on covering up potential criminal wrongdoing than exposing it and putting tougher laws into effect to punish those convicted of it," Biondi said.

"The Democrats must end their obstructionism," said O'Toole, R-Essex, Bergen and Passaic, a ranking member of the Assembly Budget Committee. "They should throw open the doors of the State House and personally escort U.S. Attorney Chris Christie and his staff to the files. Nothing should be held back. This is an investigation into the potential abuse of the people's money, and the Office of Legislative Services and Democrat legislative leaders should not stand in the way. The practice of inserting pork into the budget in the middle of the night by the party in power must stop immediately.

"If legislators want funds for special projects in their districts, the money should be placed in the budget at the beginning of the process not at the end and it should be clearly identified and able to withstand public scrutiny."

DeCroce said he will call for an emergency public meeting of the Legislative Services Commission, the bipartisan body which oversees the operations of the Office of Legislative Services, on Thursday morning to get the answers to the following questions:

* Who approved the hiring of an outside counsel?
* Who directed the Office of Legislative Services not to respond to the U.S. Attorney's request?
* Which legislative members were briefed on the U.S. Attorney's investigation?
* Why were Assembly Republicans not informed of the probe?
* Have any other outside counsels been hired to represent legislative offices or officers?

DeCroce, Biondi and O'Toole have been pressuring the Democrats to stop wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on unnecessary and expendable pork projects that only benefit a handful of legislative districts and special interests and use the money for property tax relief. They said last year's decision by the Democrats to raise the state sales tax by a penny and then use nearly half the money it raised on political pork is a "disgrace" and an "insult to taxpayers."

# # # # #

For more information, contact:
Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce / 973-984-0922
Assembly Conference Leader Peter J. Biondi / 908-252-0800
Assemblyman Kevin J. O'Toole / 973-696-2323