See ya Martha

by: Jason Springer

Thu Nov 09, 2006 at 10:28:36 AM EST

Martha Bark will not seek re-election to the State Senate. The 75-year-old Burlington County Republican will announce early next year that 2007 will be her last year in office. The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting today that an ethics probe into allegedly no-show jobs held by Bark has been expaned to include a $5 million Delaware River Port Authority grant for a project that "employed Bark as a consultant." The GOP is anxious to avoid placing the heavily Republican 8th district into play.

A state probe into part-time jobs held by GOP State Sen. Martha Bark has expanded to the Delaware River Port Authority, which gave $5 million in toll proceeds to a Burlington County nature park project that employed Bark as a consultant, according to officials familiar with the investigation.

In recent months, state investigators and a grand jury have interviewed DRPA officials and demanded records related to grants its board awarded in October 1999 and September 2001 to the Palmyra Cove Nature Park.

During that time, Bark was a paid consultant to the park project.