newjerseynewsroom.com

Share this Twitter Myspace Digg Del.icio.us Reddit Slashdot Furl Yahoo Technorati Newsvine Facebook Export PDF Print E-mail Tags jersey state reform contracts play donation buono cryan pay million received 000 500 dollars governor donors hundreds worth group contributions

Five contractors and a law firm that contributed $117,500, got over $30.6 million in contracts

Democratic legislative leaders Thursday called for the cancellation of all state contracts awarded to contributors of Reform Jersey Now, after the group's disclosure Wednesday that it had received tens of thousands of dollars in contributions from firms that went on to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in state funds.

According to Reform Jersey Now's own declaration and resulting news analysis, the group raised nearly $625,000 throughout 2010 in what it maintains is an effort to promote reform of state government. Senate Majority Leader Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex) and Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Cryan (D-Union) charge Reform New Jersey Now is a political organization run by Republican operatives run outside of state campaign finance and pay-to-play laws.

"The connection to Reform Jersey Now seems to have turned from an embarrassment of riches for well-connected contractors to just plain embarrassment for New Jersey taxpayers," Buono said. "After years of hearing Republicans decry the ‘pay-to-play' culture of New Jersey, this disclosure uncovered hypocrisy of monumental proportions. These contracts need to be nullified right now, before one more dollar of taxpayer money is spent to reward Reform Jersey Now's donors."

"Now we know the reason for all the secrecy," Cryan said. "Reform Jersey Now was nothing more than a Swiss bank account for pay-to-play. For a governor who claims of having the highest ethical standards, this is just the latest example of his ‘do as I say, not as I do' style. Not one of these tainted contracts should stand, and if the governor was a man of his word, he'd cancel them and allow them to be rebid in a truly fair and open process."

The governor's office and the Treasury Department did not respond to requests for comment on the matter.

Buono and Cryan said that of Reform Jersey Now's contributions, roughly 20 percent was connected to just four firms that received hundreds of millions of dollars worth of state business in 2010:

• Ferreira Construction ($25,000 donation), which received state transportation contracts totaling $174 million.
• George Harms Construction ($25,000 donation), which received more than $130 million worth of state transportation contracts,
• Michael Perrucci ($22,500 donation) and Douglas Steinhardt ($22,500 donation), partners in a law firm which did hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of business with several state agencies and commissions, and
• Langan Engineering & Environmental ($22,500 donation), which earned roughly $2 million through contracts with various state agencies.

Buono and Cryan also noted a $1,000 donation from Earle Asphalt Co., which had been barred from receiving state work because of previous pay-to-play donations and which was the plaintiff in a rebuffed court challenge to the state's stringent pay-to-play laws.

In announcing its donors, Reform Jersey Now also said it was closing shop.

"On its face, this list of donors appears to be little more than a quid pro quo to maintain the status quo," Cryan said. "So much for reforming Jersey now, this group's donor list reads like a who's who of everyone who wants to keep things just the way they are. Taxpayers have every right to be outraged."

"The governor's acting in complicity with Reform Jersey Now's blatant scheme to circumvent pay-to-play laws, while at the same time publicly supporting even more stringent ethical reforms, should be seen for what it is: a display of unbridled arrogance," Buono said. "Under the governor's own definitions of what's legal and illegal, it doesn't take a former U.S. attorney to figure out where on the radar these contributions land."

— TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM