Morris Plains, NJ — Months after his first requests for an explanation from the New Jersey Investment Council and Division of Investment about how it lost a staggering $155 million investing in the teetering Lehman Brothers investment bank, State Senator Joe Pennacchio (R-Morris/Passaic) has received his first response – pages of records with any valuable information redacted with a dark marker.
Most of the documents released thus far as the result of an October open records request were press releases and clippings. The few limited internal documents released show council advisors discussing down playing their losses and developing a public message to that end. Information directly relating to the decision making process appears to have been the casualties of a very heavily applied marker.
“This obvious stonewalling by the administration’s appointed Treasurer just reinforces the people’s cynicism and mistrust of the administration’s handling of the entire Lehman affair,” the Senator said. “The people’s money is theirs. The administration must be held accountable for how it is spent and invested. The first step would be releasing complete and unredacted copies of the documents involved. Instead, the administration has perversely chosen to use the Open Records Act to hide the truth, not release it as the law intends.”
Pennacchio added, “It is painfully clear that transparency has been covered up by ‘Magic’ markers and this investment council, under the supervision of the State Treasurer, is being evasive. The division’s director, William Clark, promised in testimony before the Senate Budget Committee weeks ago that he would be more forthcoming and transparent with me about the details of the investment and its loss. I have yet to hear from him, and this OPRA response shows neither he nor any member of this administration intends to be open about how this costly error occurred.”
Pennacchio has included the original OPRA request, the Council’s redacted pages as well as its limited response in its entirety in the e-mail accompanying this release.
Link to Post:
Similar Posts:
- Pennacchio: One Year Later, Corzine Administration Still Won’t Come Clean on Lehman Investment
September 15, 2009 - Pennacchio: Corzine Appointees’ Refusal to Explain Ticketmaster Fees Shows Continuing Disdain for Public
April 13, 2009 - Pennacchio Requests Exhaustive Hearings On Corzine Pension Re-Appointees
March 20, 2009 - Pennacchio to Corzine: Transparency Is the Best Disinfectant Against Corruption
July 24, 2009 - Pennacchio Repeats: Lawsuit Shouldn’t Be Used to Hide Truth About Lehman
April 6, 2009
