MERKT: TREASURY AND LEGISLATORS CAN RUN FROM AN OPRA REQUEST, BUT NOT A SUBPOENA

Assemblyman Richard Merkt today said that while Treasury officials may be stonewalling his request for documents about how legislators steered state grant money to certain programs, the administration will not have the same luxury now that U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie is seeking similar documents.October 13, 2006
Assemblyman Richard Merkt/908-850-1595(ext. 520)
Assembly Republican Office/609-292-5339

MERKT: TREASURY AND LEGISLATORS CAN RUN FROM AN OPRA REQUEST, BUT NOT A SUBPOENA

Assemblyman Richard Merkt today said that while Treasury officials may be stonewalling his request for documents about how legislators steered state grant money to certain programs, the administration will not have the same luxury now that U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie is seeking similar documents.

"The information the U.S. Attorney is seeking regarding Senator Bryant is likely very similar to the documents I am seeking regarding how other legislators may have steered funds to programs in which they have a financial interest," said Merkt, R-Morris. "Hopefully Treasury will now have second thoughts about trying to hide this information from the public."

The Star-Ledger today reported that the state treasurer’s office received a subpoena from U.S. Attorney Chris Christie this week seeking documents on state Sen. Wayne Bryant's public pensions and his lobbying on behalf of a former employer, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ).

Merkt has asked Treasury to comply with an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request from earlier this year which asked for details and documentation about how Treasury was guided by legislators in distributing $128 million in state grant money in the last two state budgets.

At the time he made the request, Merkt said that this information should answer questions about whether Bryant helped to steer funding to former employers such as Rutgers-Camden as he allegedly sought to do at UMDNJ.

"The purpose of this OPRA request was to find out whether some legislators were using these grant funds to support programs from which they derived a personal benefit," Merkt said. "Clearly that is a concern with Senator Bryant, so why not see who else may have acted in a similar manner? Treasury should make this information public, rather than waiting for the next round of subpoenas."

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