Latest news with #DePhillips
Politico
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Minnesota assassination spurs wave of state bills to protect elected officials
While many of these bills existed before the attack in Minnesota, the tragedy in June increased the urgency for their passage. The death of a state lawmaker, in her own home, seemed to galvanize colleagues across the nation. '[It's] very much in response to what happened in Minneapolis,' said New Jersey Assemblyman Christopher DePhillips, a Republican and lead sponsor of similar legislation. DePhillips was in Minnesota visiting family the weekend of the attacks, and immediately got on the phone with both Republican and Democratic leadership in the New Jersey Legislature, he said. 'It was clear that we needed more in our state to protect elected officials right from the same type of horror that happened in Minnesota,' he explained. But Griffin and other critics worry that the tragedy is being exploited to push well intentioned, but misguided, limits on public information. Addresses, she points out, can be key in making sure a lawmaker still lives in the district they represent, and can give the public an idea of how wealthy they are. 'If you can't look at someone's land transactions… what property they have and what they sold it for,' cautioned Griffin, 'then you're getting into territory where maybe it's easy for land transactions to be places where bribes are placed.' Griffin also criticized these bills for picking who gets these legal protections, when many professionals — including journalists and teachers — are also potentially targets. DePhillips said he's already been contacted by the ACLU of New Jersey concerning his bill, and is open to working with the organization to make the legislation better. 'We can find a balance for transparency, disclosure, but also public safety,' DePhillips said. 'If I live in an apartment building in Jersey City, New Jersey, do you need to know that it's apartment number four?' Nationwide protections already exist for judges in the form of Daniel's Law — federal legislation passed after the death of Daniel Anderl, the son of U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas of New Jersey. Anderl lost his life when a former litigant came to Salas' home and opened fire. The federal Daniel's Law is modeled after a New Jersey state law by the same name. Some states have made sure to leave the door open for the public to access information that is useful in holding lawmakers accountable. In Oregon, for example, Manning says personal addresses can still be acquired through a public records request. And that still provides a layer of protection for lawmakers, he adds, because submitting a FOIA creates a record of who is looking for their addresses. But Griffin says that while disclosing partial information or allowing addresses to be accessible via FOIA is better than blocking addresses altogether, there are other ways to protect lawmakers while still being transparent — like improving security technology and utilizing local law enforcement. Even FOIA requests can add days, weeks or months to a reporting timeline, and may surpass the window when the public needs to know certain information about a specific lawmaker. 'It's just a part of a trend, especially in New Jersey, of tragedies justifying secrecy,' Griffin said. 'It will be very difficult to dig up the corruption that occurs, but eventually someone will dig it up, and then we'll say, 'Hey, if Daniel's law hadn't passed, we would have known about this sooner.''
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'America has DOGE fever': States from NJ to TX draft similar initiatives as federal leaders celebrate
The spread of DOGE-centric legislation and bureaucracies has taken off like a SpaceX rocket in several states across the country since Elon Musk and lawmakers like Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., began their work this year. Bean, chair of the bipartisan DOGE Caucus, was asked about copycat initiatives popping up around the country and remarked, "America has DOGE fever." "As elected officials, we must ensure we are good stewards of taxpayer dollars. This means we must identify, investigate and eliminate wasteful spending." With a governor's race in November and President Donald Trump only losing their state by a historically small margin, Garden State Republicans appeared bullish this week as they put forth a proposal to "bring DOGE to New Jersey." 'Doge Meets Congress': Lawmaker Launches New Panel On Government Efficiency GOP Assemblymen Alex Sauickie and Christopher DePhillips recently introduced Resolution 213 to create the NJ Delegation on Government Efficiency within the Treasury Department. Read On The Fox News App Sauickie quoted former President Ronald Reagan's 1985 retort that "government is like a baby – an alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other." "Except babies, if raised and disciplined rightly, grow into adults who usually become productive members of society. Those adopting our state budgets show no such discipline," Sauickie said, adding that it is time for "grownups to take responsibility and say 'no'" to reckless spending. Some Trenton lawmakers have painted New Jersey's financial outlook as a "fiscal cliff," and DePhillips blamed outgoing Gov. Phil Murphy for claiming he inherited the problem from Republican Gov. Chris Christie. "Taxpayers want accountability for how their hard-earned money is spent," DePhillips said. He also called on Murphy to "stop fighting Trump" and lower New Jersey's business taxes before the third-founded state in the union "loses out" on the potential upswing of the new administration. Republican state Sen. Joe Pennacchio added in a recent Fox News Digital interview that he would be forming a DOGE committee in the state legislature. "We're mirroring what the federal government and what [Musk is] doing," said Pennacchio. Top Doge Lawmaker Says Trump Already Racking Up Wins This week, Kentucky lawmakers also prioritized government efficiency measures, with Republican state Rep. Jared Bauman forwarding a bill to establish a working group to help the state treasury modernize its tax collections and accounting. In Texas, lawmakers in both the state Senate and House are working on DOGE-centric initiatives. Senate President Pro-Tempore Brandon Creighton, a Republican, first oversaw the passage of the strongest DEI ban in the U.S. during the 2023 session, which eliminated billions in taxpayer-funded waste and refocused public universities on education over social issues. After DOGE formed at the federal level, Creighton said Texas is already a model for how a jurisdiction that prioritizes government efficiency will work. "Seeing the swift action by President Trump and Elon Musk with DOGE is a welcome and necessary new era in Washington, D.C. – and I know they are just getting started," Creighton told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. "Many have said that Washington should take notes from Texas – because the Texas economic engine is proof that when government is committed to efficiency, accountability and conservative results, taxpayers win." Meanwhile, Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, officially the president of the Senate, announced a bill late last month called "Texas DOGE – Improving Government Efficiency," according to Bloomberg. Another reported bill by Republican state Sen. Bryan Hughes would form a DOGE office in the executive branch. Meanwhile, the Texas House is considering forming a DOGE committee to analyze government efficiency through a 13-member panel. It would investigate fraud claims, inefficient use of tax dollars, and the use of AI, according to FOX-7. In Missouri, Republican state Rep. Ben Baker told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Missourians believe the state government is not as efficient or responsive as it should be. "We want to look into that," said Baker. Baker recently announced he was named to lead the state's new DOGE Standing Committee, adding his work will "align with federal efforts." In New Hampshire, newly-inaugurated Gov. Kelly Ayotte's first executive order created a 15-member Commission on Government Efficiency (COGE). "COGE will make us smarter than ever before when it comes to saving taxpayer dollars and finding better ways to serve the people of our state," she said in her inaugural address. It will be led by former Gov. Craig Benson and businessman Andy Crews. North Carolina also sought to get in on the DOGE trend. Republican House Speaker Destin Hall unveiled the new NC Select Committee on Government Efficiency. State Reps. Keith Kidwell and John Torbett, both Republicans, will lead the initiative, looking into waste, duplication, mismanagement and constitutional violations. "As the new Trump administration rightfully takes aim at Washington D.C.'s wasteful spending and inefficient bureaucracy, it is time for us in Raleigh to do the same," Kidwell said in a statement. Bean, the U.S. House's DOGE leader, further remarked on the collective efforts: "It's exciting to see states pick up the DOGE baton, and I applaud their efforts to improve government efficiency and stop the abuse of taxpayer dollars." Some in Congress, however, have cast doubt on DOGE. Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., said at an anti-DOGE rally that some of the actions at the federal level are "completely illegal."Original article source: 'America has DOGE fever': States from NJ to TX draft similar initiatives as federal leaders celebrate
