Government transparency on decline in Trenton
By: Charles Stile
Political Stile
USA today Network
..... Let's take a quick look at Trenton's recent track record on government transparency and accountability:
* The Legislature, with Governor Phil Murphy's signature, made it harder for the public, the press and other watchdogs to obtain public records.
* Lawmakers walked away from a promised bipartisan investigation into the mismanagement of state-run nursing homes for veterans where COVID-19 claimed more than 200 lives.
* The former CEO of the State Commission of Investigation quit earlier this month [01/2025] after the Asbury Park Press reported that she was teaching a full slate of course in Washington, D.C., and claiming a principal residence in Maryland. the agency;s asleep-at-the-wheel commissioners have allowed Tiffany Williams Brewer to handle an out-of-state full-time job when she was paid to give her full attention to corruption and waste in New Jersey.
* the state comptroller, Kevin Walsh, who has been exposing waste and fraud all over the state since Murphy appointed him to the job, remains in only an "acting" capacity. His appointment has been stalled by the unexplained whims of two Camden County legislators. His hard-hitting probes have made him few friends in the Legislature.
Under the Orweklkian-named Elections Transparency Act, the Legislature opened the floodgates for campaign cash, further making campaign the sole province of the corporate, large-donor class.
..... Some track record.
..... At a time when millions fear the demise of democracy - especially now that President Donald Trump has unleashed a wrecking ball on many of the nation's laws and customs - the Democratic-dominated Statehouse has steadily singled its contempt for transparency and accountability, two pillars of a vibrant democracy.
..... Earlier this month, [01/2025] I asked Senate President Nick Scutari, D-Union, about this recent track record. didn't the laissez-faire attitude among the SCI commissioners - who apparently permitted this absurd, bistate employment arrangement that paid Williams Brewer $210,000 a year - reflect a general sense of indifference? Or even hostility to transparency and the role of watchdogs?
..... It's hard to believe that lawmakers would have permitted such a cushy arrangement if, in fact, the SCI was truly treated as an important body that had the respect and full support of legislative leaders.
..... Scutari replied - with a straight face - that perhaps New Jersey already has too many watchdogs and maybe it;s time to begin consolidating them under one roof.
.....
"I think what we have is a lot of watchdogs, a lot of them. We have ELEC [the Election Law Enforcement Commission], SCI, we have the comptroller, the Attorney General's Office, we have county prosecutors, he said. "One of these days we're going to have to look at consolidation of those efforts."
..... I didn't take it as a serious answer but an attempt to say something to deflect from the indefensible. It should be noted that the county prosecutors are already under the jurisdiction of the Attorney General's Office.
..... And consolidating the comptroller and others under the sprawling tent of the attorney general would likely mean their operations would be limited or curtailed by other priorities under the office's purview, like the state police, oversight of the casino industry regulation and the vast army of lawyers already tracking down civil and criminal matters.
..... And besides, the SCI, which was cerated in the wake of the embarrassing corruption and organized crime scandals in the late 1960s and early 1970s; ELEC, which tracks campaign finance activity; and the comptroller's office already share their findings with the attorney general when they flag a potential violation of the law.
What about acting Comptroller Kevin Walsh?
..... The experience of the Office of the State Comptroller has also been baffling.
.....
Scutari was asked if he might use his power as Senate president to suspend the "senatorial courtesy' privilege that have blocked the confirmation of acting Comptroller Kevin Wash of Pennsauken. Two Camden County Dem orates state Senator Jim Beach and state Sean tor Nilas Cruz-Perez, have sat on Walsh's nomination for five years without offering an explanation. Cruz-Perez refused to discuss the matter at Murphy's recent State of the State address, and i didn't catch up to Beach.
..... The Senate president said he had considered talking such a rare step but decided against it. He said he doesn't believe Walsh has the 21 votes in the Senate to confirm him. and if Scutari posted his vote for confirmation, it might fail and Walsh would be forced to step down.
.....
So why the lack of votes? Scutari said there is concern that the comptroller's office has spent an "extraordinary amount of money" on investigations "without producing one criminal charge."
.... Perhaps there is another reason impeding Walsh's confirmation: those investigation have produced some unflattering findings about the waste, fraud and mismanagement in towns and jurisdictions that are under the political control of party bosses across the state. Walsh's office has taken aim at Pennsauken's insurance brokerage contracts with the firm controlled by south Jersey power broker George Norcross; targeted improper awarding of jail contrat5s in Hudson County; and even called for a "corrective action" in Scutari's political fief of Union County where high-level officials - and allies of Scutari - were boosting their pay with stipends and tuition reimbursmen6t without enacting a salary ordinance.
.....
In other words, he's made two many enemies, Scutari denied that it was the case.
..... Walsh defended his record and said his office recouped more than $530 million in taxpayer money over the last four fiscal years, 12 times the amount of money the office spent over the same period. The office has probed into corners of government operations that have long been ignored or subject to lax oversight: nursing homes, prisons and the Medicaid program. He asserts that the office is responsible for kicking 850 "bad provides" out of the New Jersey Medicaid program.
..... As for indictments? The office has made over 200 referrals to law enforcement agencies.
..... "I focus on what the law requires," Walsh told me in an interview. "My job is to protect the taxpayers and to provide transparency, and that's what I've done.
..... He said he was assured by then-Senate President Stephen Sweeney, Cruz-Perez and Beach in 2020 that he would be confirmed. Since then, he's been unable to get any clarity about his status.
..... "Nobody has ever told me why I haven't been confirmed," Walsh said.
..... He will continue to do his work, without concern about the political consequents. And Murphy has reappointed Walsh at the end of each legislative session, which is a sign of support. But here in New Jersey, accountability ethics reform and watchdogs are taking a back seat.