MERKT TO CODEY: JUST A FEW MORE QUESTIONS

MERKT TO CODEY: JUST A FEW MORE QUESTIONS
TAXPAYERS DESERVE ANSWERS

In the wake of the recent revelation by the State Treasurer that Senate President Richard Codey had control of $12 million in state “grant” funds, Assemblyman Richard Merkt today posed a series of questions that he said the taxpayers deserve to have answered by Codey.

“Public confidence and trust in Senate President Codey has been shaken by the news reports in recent days,” said Merkt, R-Morris. “In order to remove this ethical cloud from over his head, it is time for Senate President Codey to come forward and answer some very simple, and very fair questions.”

On Monday, State Treasurer David Rousseau, a former Codey staffer, testified in the Wayne Bryant criminal trial that three top Democrats, including then acting-Governor Codey, former Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny (D – Hudson), and Bryant, controlled $20 million from the fund and that Treasury had no control over the distribution of those funds. Codey reportedly had sole discretion over $12 million of those funds.

In testimony last week, at the corruption trial of former State Sen. Wayne Bryant, Senate Democratic Budget Officer George LeBlanc stated that the Property Tax Assistance and Community Development grant program was used to distribute grant money to individual lawmakers for them to direct to pet projects.

Merkt said that Codey must answer the following questions:

1. Did Codey ever directly or indirectly represent as an insurance broker or co-broker a New Jersey hospital?

2. Did Codey ever directly or indirectly represent as an insurance broker or co-broker a county or municipal government or other government agency/authority?

3. If so, did he receive compensation for this representation?

4. Did Codey ever play any role in directing grant money to any of these entities?

“It is exactly this type of potential conflict of interest that makes this slush fund dangerous, because there is no public disclosure about who is sending money where,” Merkt said. “It is time for Senate President Codey to stop trying to deflect attention from this issue and to answer questions. This isn’t a debate about budget practices from ten years ago. This is a question about what Codey did when he was in control of these grant dollars in 2005 and 2006.”

                                          ######