GORDON-WEINBERG ENCAP REFORM LEGISLATION SIGNED INTO LAW

TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senators Bob Gordon and Loretta Weinberg to require private entities under public contract to comply with stricter financing and transparency standards in an effort to avoid scandals like the EnCap debacle in the Meadowlands was signed into law yesterday by Governor Corzine.

“Public-private partnerships are important to create needed economic growth in New Jersey, but the people of our State deserve some guarantee for their investment,” said Senator Gordon, D-Bergen. “In the case of EnCap, hundreds of millions of dollars were funneled to an unqualified developer for one of the largest redevelopment projects ever undertaken in New Jersey. If private developers were required to invest more private capital and submit audited financial statements or risk losing public financing, the EnCap debacle might never have happened.”

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.

Senator Joe Pennacchio, prime sponsor of the Transparency in Government Act, issued the following statement about the governor's unmet promise of transparency in the spending of $17 billion in federal stimulus funds, and urged the governor immediately to show county-by-county, community-by-community and project-by-project how he expects stimulus money to be allocated and spent in New Jersey:

The residents of Warren and Hunterdon Counties do not need prolonged economic hardship to understand that Trenton desperately needs reform. They've been demanding it for the last eight years! They saw this economic crisis coming because of Democrat policies discouraging job creation and economic growth in our state. The question is why didn't Governor Corzine and Chairman Greenwald?

The fiscal crisis that Governor Corzine is creating is real and unprecedented in its scope. A two-year budget would help prevent governors like Corzine from saddling taxpayers with crippling debts just to win re-election.

Mayor Martin Marks, Republican candidate for Congress in the Seventh District, announced that he signed the earmark reform pledge that goes above and beyond any current earmark disclosure rules to boost transparency and demand higher standards from members of Congress for future earmark requests.

Christopher Venis, Republican candidate for New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, announced today that he signed the earmark reform pledge sponsored by the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW).  

BECK, O’SCANLON & CASAGRANDE CALL FOR MORE ‘POWER TO THE PEOPLE’

Newark, NJ 6/26/07 -  In a rare procedural move today, the United States Senate voted 64 – 35 to return to the immigration debate.  On June 7, the Senate failed to obtain the 60 votes needed for a cloture vote. New Jersey senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez voted in favor of reopening the debate.

KARCHER BILL TO INCREASE PUBLIC REVIEW OF BUDGET DOCUMENTS APPROVED

TRENTON - A bill sponsored by Senator Ellen Karcher which make fiscal information on legislation available to lawmakers and the public in a more timely manner was unanimously approved by the Senate State Government Committee today.