Senator Joe Pennacchio

April 13, 2009   

Contact: John Gorman / (609) 292-5199
Senator Joe Pennacchio, Transparency in Government

Senator Repeats Call for Transparency in Government Act

Senator Joe Pennacchio (R-Morris/Passaic) was disgusted, but not surprised by reports that appointees of the Corzine administration refused to tell the Record newspaper of Hackensack how much money state entities make from fees charged by Ticketmaster.

Reporters, federal and state investigators are trying to learn about Ticketmaster practices that earlier this year may have driven up admission prices for Bruce Springsteen fans to astronomical levels. New Jersey’s state government and its authorities make money every time Ticketmaster sells tickets to events at state-owned or financed venues, including the Izod Center and Rutgers athletic events. The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority reportedly redacted records detailing how much it collects from collaborating with Ticketmaster. In the past, records of agreements governing such ticket sales have been released to the public without redaction, the Record reported.

“Enough is enough,” Pennacchio declared. “You could write a War and Peace length novel about the Corzine administration’s obsession with secrecy. This is an administration that doesn’t want the public to know what it’s doing until it’s too late to have a say in the process.

“Wall Street bankers knew the details of Corzine’s plan to hike tolls by 800 percent, but the public didn’t until someone filed a lawsuit. Even information affecting children is kept secret. Education groups had to sue to get studies used to come up with a new school funding law.

“At this moment, my requests to get information about $115 million in losses on highly suspect pension investments in Lehman Brothers have yet to be answered despite letters to the governor and the treasurer. I have gotten no response to a recent letter asking for details of a refinancing that almost inevitably will cost the state tens of millions of dollars.

“This refinancing is almost certain to involve debt of more than $2 billion, and may affect state budgets for decades to come. If I, an elected senator sitting on the Budget and Appropriations Committee, can not get this information, then it’s clear that the public is being kept even more in the dark.”

Senator Pennacchio is the prime sponsor of the “Transparency in Government Act” which would create a Web site where all state financial information and other data could be easily and quickly accessed by the public.

“Every penny the state takes in and every penny that state spends would be available for public scrutiny on a simple, searchable Web site,” Pennacchio continued. “Other states do this, and even President Obama has said he wants to do this at the federal level. Unfortunately, Governor Corzine has only paid lip service to this bill, and I am deeply skeptical of the current governor’s stated desire to support this legislation when he continues to act like the CEO of a secretive Wall Street Bank trying to evade public disclosure. The Corzine Administration has turned out to be one of the most secretive and closed-door administrations in modern New Jersey history.”

Senator Repeats Call for Transparency in Government Act Senator Joe Pennacchio (R-Morris/Passaic) was disgusted, but not surprised by reports that appointees of the Corzine administration refused to tell the Record newspaper of Hackensack how much money state entities make from fees charged by Ticketmaster. Reporters, [...]