This doesn't sound good

by: Jason Springer

Thu Oct 02, 2008 at 08:42:12 PM EDT

Masked by an obscure state budget account dedicated to property tax relief, key state lawmakers were given millions of taxpayer dollars to hand out to their constituents as they pleased, testimony in the corruption trial of former Senate Budget Committee Chairman Wayne Bryant revealed today.

The $40 million Property Tax Assistance and Community Development grants program lawmakers added to the state budgets in 2004 and 2005, was parceled out directly to individual lawmakers for them to spend on pet projects, George LeBlanc, Democratic budget officer, testified.

Bryant, a Camden County Democrat, was allotted $4 million from the fund. Senate Majority Leader Bernard F. Kenny, Jr., (D-Hudson), was also given $4 million from the fund, which he shared with other lawmakers, LeBlanc testified. Both Kenny and Bryant left the Senate last year.

The testimony contrasts with claims by lawmakers that individual grant recipients had to apply to the state Treasurer for funding from the $40 million pool, and that grants were awarded competitively.

"To my knowledge, individual legislators were the deciders," LeBlanc told jurors. "They were the ones who designated which entities would receive amounts of money from the accounts."

"We're not aware of the specifics of today's testimony, but in recent years we've implemented new rules and regulations that open up the budget process more than ever before and let the public see every requested budget change and exactly who is proposing it."