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Corzine knew long ago!
By BullMoose | May 1, 2008
Now Johnny boy wants to have some teeth on Abbott District spending? He knew about the corruption in 2005! Here is an article published on the 18th of this month by a person I believe is the smartest person in Trenton right now, Dunstan McNichol:
No money for oversight unit of school building program
Other state agencies to take over screening of potential contractors
Friday, April 18, 2008BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL
Star-Ledger Staff
With lawmakers poised to consider a $2.5 billion infusion of new funds into New Jersey’s school construction program, budget cuts have forced the Attorney General to ax a special unit designed to keep crooked contractors out of the program.
Attorney General Anne Milgram told lawmakers yesterday that shifting responsibilities now handled by the Unit of Fiscal Integrity in School Construction to the State Police and other agencies will save about $1.5 million, eliminating 16 staff positions.
She said the other agencies can handle the unit’s work without disruption to the school building program, which was rocked by scandal three years ago.
“I think the critical question is, ‘Can we continue to do the mission?’” Milgram said after a hearing on her department’s budget before the Assembly Budget Committee. “I think we can do it.”
Assemblyman Joseph Malone (R-Burlington), ranking Republican on the budget committee and an author of the 2000 legislation that set up the school building program, said the move will further erode public confidence.
“I think that, once again, it’s the whole department not being held accountable,” said Malone. “Diluting the legal oversight — it’s just another nail in the coffin of telling people we’re going to efficiently and effectively monitor the way they spend money.”
The Integrity Unit was created by the legislation that set up New Jersey’s $8.6 billion public school construction program. Lawmakers insisted on it as an attempt to keep contractors with past records of criminal wrongdoing or fraud out of the lucrative program.
Annual reports show the unit screens more than 1,000 prospective school contractors, alerts officials to potential problems with about 300 and denies certification outright to about a half-dozen applicants each year.
Despite the unit’s work, the construction program was rocked by scandal in 2005 after a Star-Ledger review found its first six schools cost, on average, 45 percent more than similar schools built by local school districts.
State audits showed millions of dollars in funding had been wasted on questionable professional fees, unnecessary land acquisition and other misspending. In 2005, after an overhaul of the construction program’s management, officials suspended work on more than 200 school projects, leaving many communities with blocks of land bought and cleared for schools the state had no money to build.
The program was set up in response to a state Supreme Court order to rebuild or replace hundreds of decrepit school buildings in poor cities. Three years ago, officials announced its $8.6 billion would run out with only 70 new schools built.
Advocates for residents of the 31 communities covered by the Supreme Court order asked the court to order more funding. Earlier this year, Gov. Jon Corzine told the court he would introduce legislation in February to borrow another $2.5 billion for school construction. But with lawmakers battling over a lean state budget, that bill has not yet been proposed.
Jim Gardner, a spokesman for Corzine, said the governor remains committed to securing the additional funding. And he said Corzine “has the utmost confidence in the Attorney General and her allocation of oversight duties to other divisions within the Department of Law and Public Safety.”
Note in the article about the Star Ledger report of scandal back in 2005! 45 percent overruns on schools built in Abbott districts! Millions of dollars wasted! And this idiot Corrzine does not know were to find places to save money? I knew he was either stupid or a crook, but now I think he is blind also!
To all the idiots in Trenton, “IT’S TAXES, STUPID!”
Last 5 posts by BullMoose
- He loves to give our money away! - May 2nd, 2008
- Union City revisited! - May 1st, 2008
- Your money thrown down the drain by the bums in Trenton - May 1st, 2008
- While on the subject of stupid people, how about Raymond Lesniak? - May 1st, 2008
- Stupidity is not a trait in Trenton only! - May 1st, 2008
Topics: Budget, NJ State Senate, Republican Party, NJ Assembly, Property Taxes, Conservative Organizations, College Republicans, Corruption, Shenanigans, Counties, Asset Monetization, Municipalities |
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