Senator Phil Haines (R-Burlington) called upon the Corzine Administration to explain the circumstances under which the commissioners of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority agreed to fund a rail tunnel project and increase tolls by $1 billion apparently without complying with the provisions of the “Senator Byron M. Baer Open Public Meetings Act,” N.J.S.A. 10:4-1 et seq., commonly known as the “Sunshine Law.”
“The Legislature and the public are being asked to believe that the individual commissioners of the Turnpike Authority independently came to the conclusion to propose a toll increase. All without conferring with one another as a group,” said Haines. “This defies common-sense.”
The Sunshine Law requires that the details of all phases of the deliberations of bodies such as the toll road authorities, including policy formulation, be conducted in public and that the public be provided adequate notice of such meetings.
“Despite the safeguards of the ‘Sunshine Law,’ the Commissioners sent a letter to the governor detailing the Turnpike Authority’s new toll increase, while the public was kept in the dark” Haines continued. “The Turnpike Authority needs to provide a full accounting of how it is that they came to a unanimous decision to unveil their decision without ever having publicly discussed the matter as a group.”
“The Sunshine Law says that secrecy in public affairs undermines the faith of the public in government. The Turnpike Authority conducted the public hearings after deciding to impose toll hikes on middle-class, South Jersey commuters and businesses; this process was conducted in reverse order and is contrary to the spirit and provisions of the ‘Sunshine Law,’” Haines concluded.
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October 10, 2008
