The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
By Assemblyman Christopher DePhillips
It’s the time of year when many people make New Year’s resolutions. Some people might go on a diet, or start working out. New Jersey needs to do both for the sake of our economy before it is too late.
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East Rutherford NJ, the Ridgewood blog has over the been confounded over why no one has gone to jail over the gross missus of tax payer dollars. On May 9 of 2019 the New Jersey Sierra Club sent a letter to Ronald K. Chen, chairman of the Economic Development Authority Task Force, asking for an investigation of the American Dream/Xanadu project. Gov. Murphy created the task force to investigate mismanagement of $11 billion in tax incentives provided to businesses by the EDA. The American Dream/Xanadu project received $350 million in direct state subsides from EDA. Two public hearings have been held by the task force, with much of the focus on businesses in Camden that received a total of $1.6 billion.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Trenton NJ, Statement of Attorney General Gurbir Grewal Regarding the State Comptroller’s Audit of EDA Incentive Programs :
“Last week, the Office of the State Comptroller issued an audit report identifying serious deficiencies in the management and administration of certain tax incentive programs run by the Economic Development Authority (EDA). For more than a decade, the Comptroller’s Office has earned a reputation for the rigor and independence of its work, and I want to commend Comptroller Phil Degnan for conducting such a thorough audit.
I found the report’s conclusions deeply troubling – both as a public official and as a taxpayer. New Jersey residents have a right to expect that their government will carefully tailor economic development programs to maximize the general welfare and minimize the use of public funds. The Comptroller’s audit raises serious concerns about whether EDA’s incentive programs fell short of those expectations over the past decade. It also highlighted the lack of robust internal controls at EDA, raising the troubling possibility that EDA may have failed to identify material misrepresentations made by one or more entities at the time the agency approved their tax credits.
I spent a significant portion of my career rooting out financial misconduct as a federal prosecutor in Newark and Brooklyn, and I get very concerned whenever I see a state agency distributing so much money, with so little oversight, over such a long period of time. There are many things we still do not know about the historical details of EDA’s incentive programs, but it’s time to start asking some tough questions. As Attorney General, I intend to figure out what exactly happened and whether any laws were broken. If it turns out that taxpayer dollars were distributed in violation of civil or criminal law, I will use the full powers of my office to seek recovery of those funds and ensure that the proper parties are held accountable. The residents of New Jersey deserve nothing less.”
