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Assemblyman DiCicco thinks punishment of Michael Joyce too light

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

The Delaware River Port Authority has docked its top law enforcement official three day's pay — about $2,500 — for giving his daughter an E-Zpass transponder for 100 free trips across any of four toll bridges run by the agency and is requiring him to reimburse $600.

But the way Assemblyman Domenick DiCicco (R-Gloucester) sees it, the penalty for Michael Joyce, a Camden County lawyer, did not go far enough to assure toll payers that abuse of public funds will not be tolerated at the bi-state agency.

Joyce borrowed the E-Zpass of corporate secretary John Lawless. The majority of DRPA employees are issued transponders that allow 100 free trips annually over the bridges. Joyce's daughter used the E-Zpass to commute to school in Philadelphia. She had the devise from 2008 until earlier this year.

"A three-day fine and restitution that totals little more than $2,500 for abusing public dollars is an insult to drivers who duly pay $4 every time they cross the Delaware River," DiCicco said Thursday "This episode was not a momentary lapse in judgment. It occurred for 18 months, draining resources from people who rightfully pay their tolls.

"This slap-on-the-wrist for an egregious abuse of public office," DiCicco said. "It is why people are so fed up with government. If someone in the private sector had improperly used a company account, a small fine would not suffice. But when you're politically-connected, you get to walk away after paying a small fine and promising not to do it again. Law-abiding residents deserve more accountability."

"We concluded, at minimum, that this was something that should not have happened,'' DRPA Chief Executive John Matheussen, a former Republican state senator from Gloucester County, told The Philadephia Inquirer. "At minimum, it was a judgment failure.''