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Will Murphy veto bill to muzzle NJ's comptroller?

By: Charles Stile
Political Stile
USA Today Network

..... Shortly after a long combative December 1 [2025] hearing on legislation that would strip away the independence of his watchdog agency, acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh expressed confidence that the effort will hit a brick wall.
..... His ace-in-the-hole? A lame-duck governor Phil Murphy and his veto pen.
..... "I would be very, very surprised if on the way out, he undermined an important feature of executive breach oversight and diminished the power of the executive given our history of corruption in New Jersey," Walsh said of the outgoing governor last Monday. [12/01/2025]
..... Then again, there is also reason to doubt Murphy's resolve. Despite his left-of-center resume, he has hardly been a champion of transparency and government accountability in recent years. It's Murphy's less-then-reliable track record - especially his decision last year [2024] to sign and defend the curtailing of access to government documents - that has fueled the anxiety over the future of the Office of the State Comptroller.
..... To be sure, the bill would have to travel a long way to get to Murphy's desk before he turns over the keys to his successor, Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill, on January 20. [2026]
..... The bill, which would consolidate the functions of the 15-year-old comptroller's office with the hobbled State Commission of Investigation and shift the oversight to the Legislature, is likely to be water down before it reaches the Assembly. And that's assuming the lower house even takes up the measure - Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin has remained silent on the issue so far.
..... Yet its passage in a state Senate committee with a bipartisan 5-0 vote reflects the determination of Senate President Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, its sponsor. Scutari, whose allies in Union county have borne the brunt of one of Walsh's office's scathing reports, has made the bill a lame-duck priority.
..... Scutari's resolve and power put defensed of the comptroller - especially the restive party activists who have championed the office's unearthing of waste, mismanagement and corruption within the political establishment - on red alert.

What impact has comptroller had?

..... The office has released more than 130 reports under Walsh's watch since 2020, auditing everything from pension programs for municipal lifeguards to the health insurance firm led by George Norcross III, the state's top democratic power broker, from Camden County.
..... It also found that officials in Essex County -a political fief led by County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, also a Democrat - improperly awarded million of dollars in "emergency" contracts to administer COVID-19 vaccines.
..... Next door, in Scutari's Union County, comptroller's office investigators discovered county employees improperly padding their pay with stipends and tuition reimbursements.
..... In 2021, Walsh's office uncovered 60 municipalities paying their retiring employees for accrued sick leave and vacation days more than the 415,000 allowed under state law. A follow-up report found that nine municipalities continued to violate the law. he turned the spotlight on nursing home operators preying on Medicaid while delivering ghoulish levels of care. And the abuse of police union courtesy cards that have allowed the politically connected to skate free form traffic stops.
..... "We want taxpayers to know that their government has let them down or wasted their money. That is the job,"Walsh testified at the December 1 [2025] hearing of the Senator's State Government Wagering, Tourism and Historic Preservation committee.
..... But placing the controller under the thumb of lawmakers would limit the office's ability to ferret out waste and corruption, critics say.
..... It would give the Legislature the ability to steer the eyes of investigators away form targets hat are politically connected. The independence enjoyed by the office, which now is part of the executive branch, would disappear It's a classic Folio-Guaridng-the-Henhouse power play.
..... "These investigation have made many powerful people uncomfortable, but that is precisely the point of oversight," Erik Cruz Morales, director of Democracy at the New Jersey League of Women voters said as he testified at last week's [12/01/2025] hearing. "It is troubling that these attacks on oversight are happening at a time when democracy at the national level is under unprecedented strain."
..... The comptroller's work was given a timely validation last week [12/03/2025] when a state appellate court upheld the office's findings that Hudson County failed to follow proper public bidding requirements when it awarded a $13.5 million contract for health and medical services at the county jail.
..... Walsh, who is not expected to continue in the job in upcoming Sherrill administration, cites several reasons why he believes Murphy will come to the rescue of his office.
..... For one thing, Murphy reappointed Walsh to the office twice despite the clear opposition in the state Senate to confirm him.
..... But to Walsh, a former civil rights attorney and executive director of the Fair Housing Coalition, this was the governor endorsing the comptroller's office despite its "ruffling" of party establishments;s feathers.
..... There is also the issue of a shift in power. since the modern governor's office changed from a figurehead to the most powerful in the nation at the 1947constitutional convention, New Jersey governors have not made a habit of ceding authority to the legislative branch. This bill would effectively do that.
..... Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, says the governor's role was empowered in 1947 as a check against legislators who are, for the most part, are products of powerful county machines. This bill would be tantamount to a "total capitulation" by Murphy to legislative power brokers.
..... "Do you want those important powers to be exercised by legislative leaders who may have something to protect?" Rasmussen asked rhetorically.

Some moves questioned

..... Murphy has taken some stunning positions over the past couple of years that his base has seen as tone-deaf about the need for expanded oversight in a state with a long history of corruption.
..... In additions to signing a bill that tightened release of government records - another big political win for Scutari - Murphy signed the widely criticized Elections Transparency Act, allowing for campaign contributions to gush into the state at unprecedented levels.
..... And his supported the dismantling of the Waterfront Commission, which was cerated to track organize crime at the ports in Union and Hudson counties (Murphy said at the time that the commission was obsolete and that the state police could assume the commission's watchdog role.)
..... Some observers believe that in the final stretch of his lame-duck role, a nothing-to-lose Murphy could simply refuse to sign the bill and not worry about the deal-making consequences of the Legislature.
..... Or the flip side of that argument is that Murphy may still have a raft of propitiates that need legislative approval - promised judgeships and other appointments, along with long-stalled legislation, for example - and may be willing to sacrifice the comptroller's independence.
..... Predictably, Murphy;s office had nothing to say about it.
..... "We would respectfully decline to comment on pending legislation," said Tyler Jones,a spokesperson.

Will Sherrill take a stand?

..... Sherrill, for her part, offered a noncommittal, word salad statement about the issue, a style that earned her the moniker "milqyetoast Mikie" on the campaign trail. She said she is "opposed to efforts that weaken essential accountability and oversight, including with our watchdog agencies that root out government corruption, waste, and abuse" but she refused to take a position on the bill, saying she will not :eight in on pending legislation as it changes, is amended and moves through the Legislature."
..... At some point, she may want to get off the fence on this. Why? Because many view the legislation as a last-ditch attempt by Scutari and his allies to strip away the power of what they consider a "rogue agency" before she takes office.
..... As Walsh told the committee last week, [120/01/2025] the bill "hamstrings" the new governor, who has "committed."
..... "And that ... might be a lot of what is driving this," he said.

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