Date : Tue, 20 Dec 2016 14:15:09 -0500
Legislature Stands Up to Christie: Book Deal, Legal Notice Bills Held
Yesterday the Senate and Assembly held two bills that would have benefited Governor Christie and been detrimental to the people of New Jersey. The first bill, A4429 (Prieto), would permit publication of legal notices by governmental agencies and persons on official government notice websites instead of newspapers. We oppose this bill because believe that this will disadvantage the poor, elderly, and disabled people who don’t have access to the internet and would essentially undermine democracy. The second bill, S2851 (Scutari), would allow Christie to make money off signing a book deal while still in Office. Currently state law forbids Christie from making income other than his salary as Governor. If this bill passed, it would allow Governor Christie to make more money at the expense of the taxpayers of New Jersey. New Jersey Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel released the following statement:
“This was a hard-fought battle against special interest and today the good guys won. This is a real victory for open government and against dirty book deals. By not passing the bill to get rid of public notification and weaken the press, the Legislature gave a major victory to the people of New Jersey and freedom of the press. The Electronic Publication of Legal Notices Act would have been New Jersey’s legal notice equivalent to the voter identification law. It would undermine the democratic process by making it more difficult for many people to get this important information. The Legislature also held a bill that would sacrifice taxpayer money for Governor Christie to sign a book deal.
“By not passing the Legal Notices bill, the Legislature helped to guarantee everyone’s ability to get governmental news. A lot of people rely on getting this information from their print newspaper and won’t be able to instead get it online. It will disadvantage citizens without means such as those who cannot afford internet, the elderly, and the disabled. Even citizens with internet access may not check their town’s Web site on a regular basis to find out about important notices regarding contaminated wells, local development, and zoning changes. The more government does without public scrutiny, the more it undermines the public perception of government and government itself.
“The Legislature also said no to Christie’s dirty book deal. The bill would have given him a big tax break and the ability to make money at the expense of the people of New Jersey. It would have allowed him to make more money then he currently is allowed to and at the taxpayer’s expense. This is especially ridiculous when our state is broke and has no money to deal with lead in our drinking water. These actions are a one-two punch to Christie’s arrogance. A delay is a victory. The bills could come back but this will give us more time to build opposition to these dirty deals. We want to thank the Legislature for standing up for the people of New Jersey and against the Governor who would take away our rights and spend more of our money for his personal gain.
“We won today since the bills have been held but we’ll have to keep fighting. This was a battle between the Governor and the Senate President and Speaker. They tried to arm-twist and push bills through by every means possible. It was David and Goliath and today we prevailed. This is only Round One and we’ll have to keep standing up for free press and to stop Christie’s dirty deals.”
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Jamie Zaccaria Administrative Assistant New Jersey Sierra Club office: (609) 656-7612 https://www.facebook.com/NJSierraClub * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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Received on 2016-12-20 11:15:09