Dr. P. Kelly Hatfield, Republican Candidate for Congress in the 7th District is alarmed that Governor Jon Corzine’s proposed Public Benefit Corp. will not be subject to New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act, OPRA. The PBC will control billions of dollars for generations to come and because it’s being created as a nonprofit, the public will not have full access to its records.
“What happened to transparency in government?” said Dr. Hatfield referring to the governor’s proposed PBC that would be responsible to operate the Garden State’s toll roads. “It is bad enough that the plan could increase tolls by as much as 800 percent in the next 14 years, a cost to be borne by the residents, now we learn that those same residents would not be able to see just how those monies will be spent.”
“We are being asked to trust government.” said an incredulous Hatfield. The last time Trenton asked us to trust them with billions of taxpayers monies, the School Construction Corporation mismanaged and wasted millions. The Governor is now looking to borrow another 2.5 Billion dollars (without a public referendum); do we really want or need a repeat of the SCC?
The OPRA, signed into law in 2001, is viewed by many as a valuable tool allowing the public to monitor the activities of all of New Jersey’s levels of government. Hatfield who has gone on record as opposing the governor’s plan says “Jon Corzine needs to rethink his entire plan especially keeping the workings of the PBC out of the public eye, as this is only asking for trouble.”
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