RTTT Transparency Lite

by: Bill Orr

Sat Sep 11, 2010 at 02:06:51 PM EDT

For a governor who says he values transparency, Christie has contradicted himself throughout the entire RTTT fiasco. He began by making embarrassing and incorrect accusations at at a press conference. He refused to let Executive Office personnel testify, he then stopped commenting on the matter, and he tried to distract attention by launching a flurry of new initiatives.

In addition, Senate Majority Leader Barbara Buono (D-18) is being stonewalled in her request for documents and emails. She submitted her initial request on August 26 to then Commissioner Schundler under the Open Public Records Act for "all documents...related to, discussing or describing New Jersey's 2010 application to the The Race to the Top funding." The state's deadline for responding under law was September 7. On September 7 the Department of Education requested an extension for nine days which she granted. On September 10 she received yet another request for an additional four days. Fed up at this point, Sen Buono denied the second request.

The documents are now due by September 16. The information is intended to be part of the Senate Legislative Oversight Committee's September 23 hearing into the cause of the flubbed response to a question that played a role in NJ not receiving the $400 million award. If the documents point toward involvement on the part of the Executive Office, she has full justification to subpoena the individuals. Governor Christie's refusal to let them testify was based on his assertion that they had nothing to do with preparing the grant. DOE officials in the Assembly hearing said they had no contact with the Executive Office during the grant preparation, but that Schundler was in touch with the governor's staffers. Let's get beyond Transparency Lite and open up to the public the complete picture of what transpired.

Bill Orr :: RTTT Transparency Lite