Urges DeCroce to Explain How Commuters are ‘Special Interests’
(TRENTON) – Assembly Transportation Chairman John Wisniewski on Friday announced he’s filed an Open Public Records Act request demanding all documents related to Gov. Chris Christie’s decision to halt building the new Hudson River commuter rail tunnel.
“Gov. Christie’s decision will go down as one of the worst a governor has ever made, yet the only information we have describing how he came to it is a 3-page memo by his hand-picked committee,” said Wisniewski (D-Middlesex). “That’s unacceptable. We need to know how he came to this decision and whether, as we’ve seen in other instances, the governor twisted the facts to meet his own ideology rather than what’s best for New Jersey.”
Wisniewski filed the request late Thursday to the governor’s office, Department of Transportation and NJ Transit. He said he expects to receive the documents without delay within the required seven-day response period.
Wisniewski said the Assembly Transportation panel he chairs will then hold a hearing on Christie’s decision on Thursday, Oct. 14.
“This irresponsible decision appears to be based on nothing more than a 3-page memo lacking substantive details,” Wisniewski said. “The public hasn’t seen any information on the alleged cost overruns and what Gov. Christie did – if anything – to try to restructure this project to cut and share costs and save money. We need to see what criteria the governor used to setback New Jersey’s economic development for generations to come.”
Wisniewski also noted that he does not consider New Jersey commuters who would benefit from the project as being among “special interest groups.” Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Morris) on Thursday said the project would reward “special interest groups.”
“Assembly Republican Leader DeCroce is more than welcome to immediately detail the cost-by-cost analysis he must have done to convince himself that commuters are a special interest group who do not need this project,” Wisniewski said.