Senator Gerald Cardinale

March 3, 2008

Contact: Bill Murray / 609-292-5199
Senator Gerald Cardinale (R-39), Senator Jennifer Beck (R-12)

Senator Jennifer Beck (R-12) and Senator Gerald Cardinale, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to state and federal law enforcement to provide the Senate Judiciary Committee with an update on the status of any probe that is being conducted into the Board of Public Utilities (BPU).

“We are asking law enforcement officials of the state and federal governments to provide the Senate Judiciary Committee with an update of the status of any probes that are being conducted into the BPU,” said Beck, “It has been reported in the media that certain incidents at the BPU have been under investigation since 2006, and it is essential to the advice and consent process that Senators be provided with all of the information available.”

Beck pointed to the precedent set in 2004 involving the appointment of James Davy as Commissioner of Human Services. In that situation, then-Attorney General Peter Harvey transmitted a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman stating that Davy was not the target of an investigation, and that the Office of the Attorney General was not aware of any criminal conduct on his part.

A copy of the letter is attached.

February 29, 2008

Christopher J. Christie    Anne Milgram

United States Attorney,     Attorney General, State of New Jersey

District of New Jersey    Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex

970 Broad Street, 7th Floor   Post Office Box 80

Newark, NJ 07102    Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0080

Dear United States Attorney Christie and Attorney General Milgram:

As you may be aware, Governor Corzine has recently nominated Jeanne Fox for reappointment to the Board of Public Utilities. This nomination causes us great concern for a variety of reasons, one of which being that newspapers have reported State and Federal investigations into the Board of Public Utilities’ grossly mismanaged Clean Energy Program. So that we may conduct our constitutional responsibility of advice and consent with respect to this nomination, we respectfully request that you provide us with any guidance or information that may be publicly available with respect to these investigations.

In particular, we request that you provide us with any letters indicating that someone is a target of the investigation or any letters indicating no further interest in particular persons. We would also ask that any indictments stemming from this investigation be provided.

To be clear, we make no request for information or documents that are not commonly available to the public, or that would otherwise adversely impact any ongoing investigations. We are simply requesting that you provide publicly available documents that may be useful in understanding the extent to which individuals with the Board of Public Utilities are, or are not, subject to an investigation.

      Sincerely Yours,

Gerald Cardinale   Jennifer Beck

Senator, District 39   Senator, District 12
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