DONOHUE AND McCANN: CLAMMERS MORE IMPORTANT THAN NEWARK

(OCEAN CITY, September 17) – First Legislative District GOP Assembly nominees Mike Donohue and John McCann – responding to news that the New Jersey Division of Fish and Game suffered $850,000 in budget cuts that put New Jersey’s shellfish industry at risk – today declared that, upon taking office in January, they will work to reallocate state funds away from wasteful spending in Newark and Paterson, and instead provide full funding for critical regulatory bodies.

“Without full funding of the Division of Fish and Game, the DEP cannot conduct its required patrols of the clam beds,” said Donohue. “If the DEP can’t patrol and certify the clam beds, the Food and Drug Administration won’t let the shellfish be shipped out of state. If we can’t ship the clams out of state, they’re no good to us – we can’t consume 80,000 bushels ourselves.

“This is an industry that generates about a quarter of a BILLION dollars a year to the economy of New Jersey,” Donohue continued. “It’s just plain WRONG that Trenton Democrats insist on funding wasteful spending in places like Newark and Paterson, even if it means cutting funds from the state regulatory agencies we have to work with for our livelihoods down here in South Jersey.

“This story also goes right to the heart of our argument that the Department of Environmental Protection should be drastically reformed, and its functions redistributed to new offices, including a Division of Coastal Resources.”

“This is not rocket science,” said McCann. “But this is a perfect example of how wasteful spending is a double whammy – not only does it cause us to pay taxes for no good reason, but in this case, when times are tight and government are looking for ways to cut budgets, it’s resulted in devastating budget cuts to a critical regulatory agency.

“Jon Corzine and his allies Nelson Albano and Matt Milam may not think that protecting our clammers is important, but Mike and I sure do,” McCann continued. “It’s outrageous that we’re wasting money in Newark and Paterson, while leaving good fishermen at risk. That’s got to stop. And when Mike and I get to Trenton, it will.”

Paid for by Donohue McCann 2009