BECK, O’SCANLON & CASAGRANDE BLAST ‘NEW’ SCHOOLS CONSTRUCTION PROGRAM

Red Bank, NJ- 12th District legislative candidates Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck, Declan O’Scanlon and Caroline Casagrande today expressed serious concern over Governor Corzine’s actions in re-authorizing billions of taxpayer dollars to be wasted on a new version of the Schools Construction Corporation (SCC).

“From the beginning, the Schools Construction Corporation has criminally squandered billions of taxpayer dollars through flagrant mismanagement of money,” Beck said. “Even though the SCC was originally given a whopping $8 billion to build new schools, it was so rife with corruption that it barely completed half of the projects it sought to finish. Now, taxpayers are again expected to foot the bill for more waste and abuse.”

Beck, a candidate for State Senate, was referring to Corzine’s signing of the Educational Facilities Construction and Financing Act, a bill that does nothing to correct the past problems of the SCC. The bill, signed on Monday, essentially gives the SCC a new name. All of the duties, powers and regulations of the SCC, including contract award processes and management of projects, will remain the same under the new law, except these functions will simply be transferred to a new authority with a different name.

The bill was signed amid rumors that the Democrat leaders in Trenton will ask the Legislature to approve $3.25 billion more dollars for school construction projects, as recommended by the Interagency Working Group on School Construction, when lawmakers return to the state capital after the November elections for a “lame duck” legislative session. This includes $2.5 billion for projects in Abbott districts.

"Not a penny more should be given to the SCC until we find out what happened to the money that has already been misspent," O'Scanlon said. "We cannot afford to waste more money in the Abbott districts while schools in District 12 continue to be underfunded and our buildings continue to be in need of serious repair. The tragedy is not only in the billions of dollars wasted over the years, but, more importantly, in the fact that our children have suffered as a result of the negligence that has occurred."

Casagrande noted that the new law will allow the SCC’s contract process to be function in an even more secretive way than before by permitting contracts to be awarded without public bidding under certain circumstances.

“Even as the public reads newspaper headlines blaring everyday of political cronyism and indictments of career politicians, Governor Corzine and the Democrats still don’t get it,” Casagrande said. “New Jersey citizens are sick and tired of the way business is done in our state capital. By signing this bill into law, the Democrats continue to reinforce the notion that the ‘business as usual’ mentality in Trenton is alive and well.”

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