Americans for Prosperity Files OPRA Request
Asks Roberts for details to back claim

Trenton – Americans for Prosperity, New Jersey's largest and fastest growing taxpayer advocacy organization, filed an Open Public Records Act request seeking detailed information to support claims made by the office of Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, Jr., about how a program to use taxpayers’ money to fund political campaigns was created.

The taxpayer-subsidy program, named the “Fair & Clean Elections Program” by its supporters, was designed by an unofficial legislative committee identified in news reports as the “Clean Elections legislative committee”.  It is apparent that this entity functioned as a kind of unofficial sub-committee of the Assembly State Government Committee, but absent the rules governing that official body.

The OPRA request notes that Speaker Roberts created this committee, selected its members, and assigned it the task of putting together the “Fair & Clean Elections Program” for 2009.  The request notes that taxpayer-paid staff members were employed in support of the unofficial committee.  It requests answers to basic questions and requests documents relating to the operation of this committee

“At a time when we are cutting property tax relief, it is irresponsible that an unofficial committee like this has functioned behind closed doors and produced a new spending program that will cost the taxpayers of New Jersey millions in money they don’t have,” said Steve Lonegan, Executive Director of AFP.