Governor Has Swift Response to Lawsuit(NJ)

Just hours after taxpayer Dave Robinson filed suit against Jon Corzine, the Governor agrees to voluntarily do what the legal action is seeking.

On behalf of his client attorney Mark Sheridan has filed suit in Trenton Superior Court against Governor Jon Corzine and State Treasurer Brad Abelow cliaming the Administration planned to continue to "unconstitutionally and illegally" send out millions in taxpayer dollars. $40 million was originally appropriated by the Legislature in Fiscal Year 2006 and even more the year before to "Property Tax Assistance and Community Development Block Grants" under control of the State Treasurer.

The legal action asks a judge to freeze the unspent $25 million in grant monies remaining in the state's coffers. Later yesterday a Corzine spokesman confirmed the Governor has decided to voluntarily freeze the account pending a review. Corzine says, "We're going to conform with the law, it's very simple….I'm going to get legal advice on what needs to be done."

The State Constitution says, while the legislature approves the amount of money, it is the responsibility of the Executive branch to determine where it goes. Sheridan says, "Based upon a review of materials to this grant program, it appears that neither the Department of the Treasury nor any other agency of the Executive Branch exercised control over the selection of grant recipients from this program."

In testimony before the Assembly Budget Committee on May 24, 2005 then State Treasurer John McCormac confirmed this point when he said, "We are not involved at all in the approval process of those grants. Those come to us pre-approved by the leadership of the Assembly and the leadership of the (State) Senate."

Robinson says that one statement helped spur him to retain Sheridan at his own expense, "We're objecting to politicians who are treating the state's coffers as a piggybank to be used for the politically well-connected." He says giving the Democratic lawmakers in power the right to decide who gets what, "violated the constitution as far as how it was appropriated…..there appears to be no public notice for the award of these grants, there does not appear to be any application process and they don't appear to be based on merit."

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Corzine freezes 'slush fund'

By BETH DeFALCO Associated Press Writer

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Hours after being sued by a private citizen who accused New Jersey lawmakers of illegally tapping into a multimillion dollar slush fund, the governor on Thursday publicly announced that he had already frozen the program's remaining money.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine agreed to halt payments from the grant program earlier in the week, his spokesman said, but didn't announce the decision until after David Robinson, an attorney from Cranford, filed a lawsuit in Superior Court in Mercer County on Thursday.

"The money for these grants was authorized and approved well before Gov. Corzine took office," Corzine spokesman Anthony Coley said. "He has directed a review of this program and ordered no further grants be distributed until that review is complete."

Over the past two years, lawmakers have set aside some $128 million for the Property Tax Assistance and Community Development Block Grant program, which Robinson characterized as "nothing more than a state-funded piggy bank for the politically connected."

"I'm outraged, plain and simple," Robinson said of the program.

After receiving no response to a March 15 letter he sent to Corzine and State Treasurer Bradley Abelow, Robinson decided to sue the pair to stop the state from spending any more of the estimated $25 million left in the grant program.

A March 29 memo from Corzine's chief counsel, Stuart Rabner, said the governor's decision to freeze the program was in response issues raised in Robinson's letter.

According to extensive public records contained in Robinson's lawsuit, some of the projects given one-time grants include: $200,000 for a Newark day care center; $125,000 for a New Brunswick teen center; $16,000 for equipment at a dog park in East Brunswick and $25,000 for a wrestling club in Paulsboro.

"Almost all of the grants have ties to some lawmaker," said Robinson's attorney, Mark Sheridan.

Several members of the Legislature are also mayors, comptrollers or are otherwise employed by municipalities that have received grant money, according to public records obtained by Robinson and included in his lawsuit.

Albio Sires, who in 2005 held the top leadership position in the state Assembly, was simultaneously the Democratic mayor of West New York. That town pulled in more approximately $3 million in grant money in 2005 to pay for street paving and recreational facilities upgrades. The $3 million included $250,000 for "downtown beautification."

Union City Mayor Brian Stack, who is also an assemblyman, saw $400,000 go to his city for parks, public works and other improvements.

In December, Camcare Health Corp. was approved to receive $200,000 from the grant program. Camcare's executive director, Mark Bryant, is the brother of Sen. Wayne Bryant, D-Camden.

Calls for comment to Sires, Stack, Mark Bryant and Wayne Bryant were not immediately returned Thursday.

Assembly Democratic spokesman Joe Donnelly said Sires understood that the funding decisions were made by the executive branch under a grant application process.

But Robinson's lawsuit cites then-Treasurer John McCormac saying that in lieu of an application process, he received lists from legislative leadership identifying which organizations were to receive grants from the fund.

Robinson's lawsuit alleges that the one-time grants were unconstitutional because while they were doled out by the Treasurer's Office in the executive branch, the legislative branch did the decision making. Robinson said that is a violation of the constitution's separation of powers provision.

Although Corzine has agreed to stop any grants from being awarded until his review is complete, Robinson said he would continue with the case until the fund was permanently closed.

His lawsuit also asks the court to order that all grants from the fund be returned.

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