ethics

Senate Budget Committee member Steve Oroho, R-Sussex and Hunterdon, said it's disgraceful that the Corzine administration approved a grant of $12 million today under the so-called Special Municipal Aid program without producing the performance audits required by law.

The Senate Republican caucus announced today that they have unanimously voted to keep their strong leadership team in place for the next year. In addition, the senators also unanimously agreed to cast their votes for Senator Kean as the next Senate president.

As a health care professional, Senator Joe Pennacchio believes no politicians should lobby the FDA unless they are absolutely certain they are acting in the best interests of patients.

Senate Republican Budget Officer Anthony Bucco said Governor Corzine should re-read his Executive Order No. 1, which lays out the rules for conduct of a governor's financial affairs. "It is obvious that the governor is invested in a hedge fund whose managers also own casinos," Bucco said. "Clauses in Governor Corzine's executive order No. 1 would seem to prohibit such an investment."

Governor Corzine says we don't need new laws to fight corruption. Is it any wonder that his ethics package has gone no where in the state Legislature? Or that commonsense ethics bills aren't even being considered?

Senator Steven Oroho, Republican member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, said he is deeply troubled by published comments questioning whether Corzine administration employment data released yesterday accurately reflects what went on in the New Jersey economy in July. 

Sadly, it took the indictment of another 44 people for Governor Corzine to move forward with one piece of the ethics reform New Jersey needs. The long suffering citizens of New Jersey can only hope the Governor will put partisan politics aside and call a special legislative session to close the remaining ethical loopholes that help foster corruption.

Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean called on Governor Corzine to order an immediate meeting of the state's Local Finance Board. The board should consider exercising emergency control of cities in turmoil because their mayors and other key officials haven't stepped down after their arrests on corruption charges.

Senator Joe Pennacchio is counting down the days until Governor Corzine actually keeps his promise of transparency in the spending of $17 billion in federal stimulus aid. Is this aid going to generate the maximum amount of jobs for New Jersey, or is it being used as an election-year goody bag for the governor's supporters? It's impossible to know if the governor won't keep create a Web site that shows where the $17 billion is really going. 

The governor's surrogates have been full of bluster and hyperpole about the evils of hiring politically connected law firms. Yet Governor Corzine, who hasn't managed to push an ethics reform package through a Legislature controlled by his own party, has never suggested that his administration stop hiring politically connected law firms, or that the Legislature ban lawyers from donating to campaigns. The governor should make his rhetoric match his actions, rather than pointing fingers at others.