Latest news with #Scutari
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
N.J. ballot law ‘meets constitutional muster,' lawmaker says after judge questions its legality
Though a federal judge says parts of a new ballot design law may be unconstitutional, its sponsors say there's no rush to change it. (Photo by Jennifer Peacock | Assembly Republican Office) Supporters of a new law that ended New Jersey's controversial county-line ballot system signaled there is no rush to amend the statute, even after a federal judge warned this week that the law may be unconstitutional. U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi in a Tuesday order said some balloting practices that were challenged in court last year likely remain unconstitutional despite changes signed into law this March, but Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) said he thinks the law, which he sponsored, 'meets constitutional muster.' 'Ballot design has always been in the purview of the Legislature, but I'm aware of what he said,' Scutari said. Scutari added that he had not read the order but had heard some of the judge's concerns through other mediums. It's unclear what effect Quraishi's order will have on future elections. There are primaries on Tuesday — gubernatorial and Assembly candidates are on the ballot — but it's too soon to change ballots before then. The new law was spurred by a lawsuit filed in February 2024 by now-Sen. Andy Kim and two other congressional candidates. The three Democrats alleged that the state's county-line ballot system — which groups party-backed candidates on the ballot no matter what office they're seeking — is unconstitutional. In March 2024, Quraishi ruled that Kim's lawsuit was likely to succeed on its merits, and he barred county clerks from using county-line ballots in the June 2024 primary. Instead, he ordered them to use office-block ballots, which group candidates by the office they're seeking. The Legislature then acted. Earlier this year, it passed the new ballot law, which revamped the design of primary ballots largely to conform to Quraishi's March 2024 edict. But the judge, in his new order, noted that the law permits candidates to bracket with one another on the ballot and have their ballot positions determined by a single draw instead of individual draws. Those provisions, he wrote, 'likely do not remove the unconstitutional practices alleged.' Quraishi's March 2024 order barred clerks from conducting ballot draws that 'do not include a separate drawing for every office and candidate' and required ballot draws offer each candidate an equal chance of securing the best ballot position. The Kim lawsuit alleged Jersey's bracketing system — which allowed candidates to have their ballot positions drawn as a group if they shared a slogan, as did candidates backed by party leaders — violated other candidates' associational rights by requiring they bracket with others to avoid being disadvantaged by the ballot itself. Under prior law, ballot draws for candidates for high office could determine placements for those seeking other offices, from the state to local level. The new law allows candidates seeking the same office, like two running mates for a single Assembly district, to have their ballot positions drawn as a group. Quraishi said this week that leaving ballot draws to clerks' discretion could harm candidates in the future. One of the law's sponsors said the Legislature would act if Quraishi orders further changes. 'The ballot design legislation was written with unprecedented public input and reviewed by counsel from the Office of Legislative Services, as is the case with any law. If there is a legal challenge and a court determines we need to address something, I'm sure the legislature will,' said Assemblyman Al Barlas (R-Essex), who co-chaired an Assembly panel convened to consider new ballot design. As the new law was being contemplated, numerous witnesses urged legislators to require randomized electronic ballot draws and rotating candidate ballot positions to ensure each appeared in the first position as often as their opponents and warned that bracketing provisions could disadvantage solo candidates. Quraishi's concerns haven't spawned wide-reaching worry among the state's most prominent politicians. 'They put the people who are running together together. I don't have a great passion about that one way or the other, but the ballot worked for me,' Gov. Phil Murphy told reporters Thursday. 'It was dead straight forward, dead easy.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
The Guardian
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Nightingale by Laura Elvery review – Florence Nightingale inspires a luminous historical novel
The year is 1850, the eve of the Crimean war, and Florence Nightingale is watching a group of boys at play. From a distance, she composes the scene, preparing to describe it in a letter to her aunt. 'How did she want this part to sound?' she wonders – less concerned with what is happening than how it might be narrated. When she realises the boys are not kicking a ball but tormenting a baby owl, she doesn't recoil. The horror of the image lands alongside another realisation: the story 'might be better' now, though she is left considering how best to reframe the violence for her aunt: 'Knowing she would narrate it later back in the house … Florence would have to tell the story a different way'. That instinct – to reshape the unbearable into something legible – sits at the core of Nightingale, Laura Elvery's rich and exacting novel about violence, care and memory. In 1910, a young English soldier, Silas Bradley, appears on Florence's doorstep, claiming they met during the Crimean war half a century before. He's confused, searching for answers about lives that looped briefly and painfully around his own; his appearance also forces Florence to confront ghosts in her own past. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Though the novel bears Florence's name, the story belongs not just to her but also to Silas, as well as Jean Frawley, a young nurse stationed at Scutari under Nightingale's charge. As the novel sifts through voices and memories, we see versions of Florence throughout her life, in 1850, 1854, 1861 and 1910: as a young woman determined to forge a path in a world that resents her ambition; becoming a public figure blamed for the chaos she tried to manage; and, in the final year of her life, disabled and in declining health. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion Rather than placing Florence at the centre of the narrative, Elvery lets her hover at the edges. It is through Jean that we see Florence most closely during the war, in which she became known as the famous 'lady with the lamp'. The nurses in Scutari quickly come to know her as 'Miss N': a tidy, disciplined presence who watches over them like a schoolmistress, observing surgeries, airing hospital rooms, and maintaining the order and hygiene of her ward with matronly authority. She is feared, respected, and often inscrutable. But a portrait still emerges of a woman burdened with duty. 'At night I prayed to God,' Florence reflects, 'and I contemplated my evidence and my questions about a war that killed twenty thousand British soldiers.' The physical world of Nightingale is rendered in extraordinary detail. It returns again and again to the physicality of care, to the 'women's work' of 'holding up bodies': the 'sourness of damp clothes', 'scraps of dirty butter and sometimes-fresh meat', the 'tongue-pink, bacon-pink, brick-red, yellow' of a man's exposed ribs. Elvery's prose is both sensual and brutal, lingering on textures, smells and colours that refuse abstraction. These visceral scenes contrast with sunlit images of 'clean sheets like white petals,' the 'powerful brown bodies' of horses, 'a gentle, wheaty voice'. It's this duality that defines Nightingale: the tension between order and chaos, between what can be managed and what must be borne. War is stripped of sentimentality: there are no grand speeches and battlefield heroics, just the repetitive, accumulating devastation of young men dying far from home, 'felled like trees while the sun turned overhead'. The war in Nightingale is not cinematic. It is slow, exhausting, relentless. What matters is not whether it is won, but how it is endured – and who cleans up the mess. Florence herself is only 36 years old when she leaves Scutari. She has 'vaulted over the tyranny of idleness' expected of women of her class, but her leadership is tolerated only so long as it conforms to a certain moral cleanliness. She is blamed for the consequences of combat by the very men whose wars she tried to make survivable. 'That those men should blame me,' Florence says, 'as though I had been the one to build a hospital over a cesspool.' Ghosts – of memory, of war, of lives unlived – haunt the novel's edges. Florence, in her old age, reflects 'the thoughts of my life are like an enormous knotted scarf, each knot a prayer'. Time, accordingly, slips and loops. The plot is oblique, passing in a series of scenes and images – like the flashes of memory. This gives Nightingale a slippery, dreamlike quality which may not appeal to every reader. Its fragmentary structure occasionally risks the narrative feeling remote, its emotional resonance dulled. But if the characters feel a little one-dimensional at times, it's balanced by the richness of the world they inhabit. Nightingale is a luminous, fragmentary exploration of what war takes from those who are not asked to fight. Circling rather than marching, it invites us to look not at the battles, but at what comes after; and not at the heroes, but at the women who held them up. Nightingale by Laura Elvery is out through UQP, $32.99
Politico
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Norcross and Scutari patch things up
Presented by Good Tuesday morning! Parental advisory suggested: Two years ago to the month, Democratic boss George Norcross told Senate President Nick Scutari to 'go fuck yourself' over a dispute in campaign funding in South Jersey. The feud simmered for some time. 'He will have to answer to his caucus why he isn't helping in any meaningful way,' Norcross said of Scutari that September. Then, in January 2024, the Union County Insurance Fund Commission dropped in PERMA Risk Management Services, a subsidiary of Norcross' insurance brokerage Conner Strong, in favor of Acrisure, whose managing member for the region is Gary Taffet, a Middlesex County Democratic insider. Norcross and Scutari must have patched things up at some point, because Scutari will be 'special guest' at a March 24 fundraiser for Norcross' super PAC, American Representative Majority, according to an invitation. You'll never guess who it's honoring. (It's George Norcross). It's $3,500 a head at Carlucci's Waterfront in Mount Laurel if you want to sing kumbaya with them. The spat did nothing to hurt Democrats while it raged in 2023 and they clawed back their legislative losses from two years before. But it's probably good news for well-connected South Jersey officials who need a pension boost through legislation. But it comes the same month Norcross got his indictment tossed, and after Scutari, like Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, has declined to comment on Assembly Republicans' effort to impeach Attorney General Matt Platkin. I'd like to know what led to this detente, but Norcross and Scutari declined to comment. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: My wife/pun tester Emily, Chris Smith, Clinton Calabrese WHERE'S MURPHY? In Newark at 11 a.m. for a North to Shore Festival Announcement QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'The rushed process lends itself to the cynical view that their top priority is to just get it done and out of the way, like a kid rushing through their homework before the school bell rings.' — Ras Baraka, on the budget process TIPS? FEEDBACK? Email me at mfriedman@ WHAT TRENTON MADE LAWMAKERS CONSIDER PITCHFORK BAN — New Jersey lawmakers worry 'horrendous' rate increases will spark 'crisis', by POLITICO's Ry Rivard: New Jersey lawmakers are bracing for skyrocketing electricity prices to fuel voter outrage this summer. Utility bills are set to increase by about $25 a month in June, thanks to a power supply crunch within New Jersey and across a 13-state power market that the state relies on. During a three-hour Monday hearing of the state Senate's oversight committee, lawmakers seemed ready to entertain laws that just months ago might have seemed radical, like allowing utilities to own power plants again — something they haven't been able to do since deregulation over a quarter-century ago. The Senate hearing was called to discuss surging demand for power from AI data centers, but the driving force was concern about the rate hikes. Sen. Bob Smith, a Middlesex County Democrat who chairs the Senate's Energy and Environment Committee, said the rate shock will be 'horrendous' across New Jersey. 'There's going to be thousands of people with pitchforks and tar looking to tar and feather whoever they think is responsible for this,' Smith said. THE TAX ON BOOZE WILL HELP — ''It's very sobering': Trenton watches budget chaos in Washington with anxiety, concern,' by The Record's Katie Sobko: 'Senate President Nick Scutari, along with state Sen. Paul Sarlo and Assemblywoman Eliana Pintor Marin, the budget chairs in their respective chambers, are watching the federal budget process play out in Washington with concern. Moments before Murphy's address on Tuesday, Sarlo said that while the speech is usually the starting point of the budget process, it is 'really a starting point due to uncertainty of the federal dollars.' 'This budget could be a complete makeover in a couple of weeks,' he said. 'We need to find out what the federal, especially on the Medicaid dollars, and as always thank God we have a healthy surplus … but revenue raisers have got to be the last, last resort.' Sarlo went on to say there are going to have to be cuts during the budget process this year to minimize the need for the state to raise revenue through sales tax hikes. Pintor Marin, his counterpart in the lower chamber, said the Legislature has to wait and see what happens in Washington as Congress drafts a budget of its own in March. 'Right now, it's in our minds, but we're not really talking or looking at anything in particular,' she said.' AN ESCALATING PROBLEM — 'Number of broken NJ Transit station elevators, escalators climb 12%; find out where here,' by the Asbury Park Press' Olivia Liu: 'In 2024, there were 2,725 elevator and escalator incidents at NJ Transit rail stations, according to a spreadsheet obtained via an Open Public Records Act request. Those incidents could include things such as freeing entrapped passengers, shutting down an elevator for cleaning or putting an escalator out of service for maintenance. It represents an increase of 12.3% from 2,426 incidents in 2023. Public transit is not always intuitive for new passengers. For people in wheelchairs, parents with strollers and seniors with limited mobility, a broken elevator can torpedo travel plans.' NEW JERSEYANS PLAN TO WEIGH IT DOWN WITH STONES, SINK IT IN AN ABANDONED MINE — 'Buoyant NJ tax-revenue outlook boosts forecast by $360M,' by NJ Spotlight News' John Reitmeyer: 'Despite concerns about a potential recession and the impact of drastic policy changes up for consideration in Washington, D.C., state government revenue forecasters in New Jersey are saying tax collections are going to grow more than they first thought. For starters, upgraded economic projections released last week for the remaining months of state government's July-to-June fiscal year added more than $360 million to the expected bottom line in the near term, pushing the grand total for annual revenue collections to $54.9 billion. Leading the way was the income tax, which is now projected to generate more than $20 billion by the time this fiscal year closes at the end of June, according to updated budget documents released by Gov. Phil Murphy's administration.' SOME DOGE BOYS JUST GOT A RAISE — 'A racist and pornographic Zoom bomb causes progressive group to cancel event with NJ governor candidate Ras Baraka,' by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Aliya Schneider: 'A progressive organization's Zoom event with Newark Mayor Ras Baraka to discuss his campaign for New Jersey governor was abruptly cancelled on Sunday after a racist and pornographic cyber attack broke loose. Action Together New Jersey organized the informational event about Baraka's campaign to kickoff a series spotlighting candidates for governor. Baraka is one of two Black men running for the seat in a crowded primary. Sunday's Zoom attack was multi-pronged, according to people who attended the meeting. The chaos included pornographic videos of Black men, racist slurs and attacks, and what appeared to be a young boy — or bot disguised as one — praising President Donald Trump. The civic advocacy group and progressive Democrat have both experienced similar attacks before.' — 'Baraka files over 11,000 signatures on nominating petitions' — 'Atlantic County Democrats back Sweeney for governor' — 'N.J. drops nearly 225,000 from voter rolls' — 'Medicaid risk? Murphy budget relies on extra federal funding' — 'New Atlantic City casino PILOT talks on hold due to budget uncertainty' — 'Gun legislation sparks disagreement among New Jersey Republicans' — 'Brennan and Bhalla call on Gov. Murphy to conditionally veto ballot redesign bill' TRUMP ERA POWELL GETS CHUBB — 'Federal Reserve Bank will bring its cash center to Central Jersey,' by MyCentralJersey's Mike Deak: 'The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has bought the former Chubb Insurance headquarters at Mountain View Road and I-78 to build a 400,823-square-foot building to manage the circulation of cash and coins. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York purchased the 118-acre site for $57.35 million in December … according to the bank, the center will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. About 40 workers will work early morning and late evening shifts … The new center will support the New York Fed's critical cash processing services and operations, including the circulation of U.S. dollars and coins to support economic activity. The center's goal is to ensure that sufficient currency is in circulation to meet public demand by paying, receiving, verifying, and authenticating currency on behalf of banks and credit unions.' — 'Rep. Menendez named regional vice chair of DCCC ahead of midterm elections' LOCAL IMPEACH PLATKIN! — 'Paterson makes it through month without anyone getting shot. First time in 14 years,' by the Paterson Press' Joe Malinconico: 'For the first time in more than 14 years, the city made it through an entire calendar month in February without anyone getting shot … Public officials and community leaders attributed the February lull in gun violence to a variety of factors. The month started with federal authorities announcing indictments against 11 alleged members of the violent 100k Enterprise street gang from North Main Street. Paterson had already seen a substantial increase in police presence in high-crime areas, through extra patrols paid for with $8 million in overtime in 2024. The money for that overtime mostly came from an infusion of state funding because of the Attorney General's ongoing takeover of the Paterson police department. Activists asserted that grassroots crime intervention programs run by community groups also have played a role in stopping shootings. On top of all that, most people cited the unusually cold weather this winter as being a major factor in curtailing gun violence.' CHRIS SMITH TO BLAME ANTIFA — 'Medicaid cuts: How many millions could your Monmouth or Ocean County hospital lose?' by the Asbury Park Press' Michael L. Diamond: 'The Jersey Shore's health care providers could see millions of dollars in cuts — and thousands of its residents could lose insurance coverage — under a plan by Republican lawmakers to scale back Medicaid, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone and advocates argued Friday. The proposed cuts of at least $880 billion nationwide over the next decade would ripple through the Shore's hospitals, nursing homes and home health programs — just as the giant baby boomer population continues to retire and is expected to need more care, they said. 'This is simply unacceptable,' Pallone said. 'We can't have this level of cuts.'' THEY'VE GOT NO MONEY TO TAKE — 'Tropicana Atlantic City says it's being 'overrun' with homeless,' by The Press of Atlantic City's John O'Connor: 'Tropicana Atlantic City has been feeling the effects of the resort's homelessness problem as dozens have been finding their way into the building daily to shelter from the cold weather, an executive told city officials Friday. 'Over the last six weeks or so, we've been completely overrun here,' Chris Downey, Tropicana's vice president of casino operations, said during the city's Clean and Safe meeting. 'We're evicting about 20 people a day, so we're really fighting a rising tide here. In fact, we evicted 13 Friday morning alone.' Homeless people enter the building through a variety of entrances, including fire stairs. Police remove them from the property, but that doesn't deter them from coming back, Downey said.' TRENTON — 'N.J. pastor used mystery substance to knock out, sexually assault teen, cops say,' by NJ Advance Media's Anthony G. Attirino: 'A Trenton pastor charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old used a substance in an unmarked bottle to incapacitate the teen on two occasions, authorities said. Charles B. Brinson, 64, was arrested on Feb. 19 … The 16-year-old told officers the first assault occurred in mid-January and the second on Feb. 12 at Brinson's home on Brinton Avenue, according to an affidavit filed by police in support of the charges. Both assaults occurred in the pastor's bedroom, where Brinson kept 'a bottle of a clear substance and a black top with no labels on it,' authorities said. Brinson placed the substance to the 16-year-old's nose, which caused the teen to lose consciousness, authorities said.' FLASHBACK TO 2018 — 'Trenton council may backtrack on renaming street honoring family of pastor with 'checkered' past' DRUNK AND ORDERLY — 'Hoboken officials tout first ever LepreCon with no arrests, just 49 calls for service,' by Hudson County View's John Heinis: 'Hoboken officials are touting the first ever LepreCon bar crawl that resulted in no arrests this past weekend, with only 49 calls for service to the police department. Between Saturday at 12 noon and 4 a.m. on Sunday morning, there were 49 calls for service, including five special complaints: three for public urination, one for open container, and one for disorderly conduct, according to city spokeswoman Marilyn Baer. There were also 16 motor vehicle summonses issued, four ambulance calls, and zero occupancy violations issued by the fire department, in connection with the bar crawl. Last year, the St. Patrick's Day-themed bar crawl resulted in five arrests, up from just two in 2023. — 'Code enforcement officer tried to extort bribes from [Newark] business, officials say' — 'Amid community outcry, ICE releases statement on arrests of N.J. restaurant owners' — 'First NJ deadly bird flu case in feral cat found in Hunterdon County' — 'CRDA launches $77M in energy upgrades at Atlantic City Convention Center, Boardwalk Hall' EVERYTHING ELSE HOW ABOUT LAYING OFF THE COMMERCIALS? — 'BetMGM to lay off 83 workers at Jersey City headquarters as sports betting market slows,' by The Record's Daniel Munoz: 'BetMGM, one of the nation's largest online gambling companies, will lay off 83 employees at its headquarters in Jersey City, as it copes with slower growth in the sports betting industry. The layoffs are set to go into effect on May 27, according to a public notice the company filed in late February with the New Jersey Department of Labor … Nationwide, sports betting revenue was down 29% in December, compared with the same month a year earlier, according to the American Gaming Association, a trade group.' FANDUELING NARRATIVES — 'FanDuel cuts the ribbon on new Jersey City office in Newport neighborhood,' by Hudson County View's John Heinis: 'FanDuel cut the ribbon on a new Jersey City office in the Newport neighborhood, specifically 111 Town Square Place, on Thursday afternoon. 'As a consequence of legislation I prime-sponsored launching a regulated and taxed sports betting market in NJ, @fanduel is bringing 400 jobs to Jersey City (out of nearly 2,000 in the industry now in JC) and today opened its offices here,' state Senator Raj Mukherji (D-32) wrote on Instagram.' — 'Drugmaker Eisai will cut 57 jobs at North Jersey headquarters' — 'With 3 times as many wildfires already this year, New Jersey fears 'quite a fire season' is coming' — 'Nearing one-year anniversary, Battleship New Jersey team reflects on dry dock experience' — ''It's cool': Rutgers University is attracting a growing number of adult learners' — 'Black South Jersey preachers seek to provide hope during turbulent times'
USA Today
27-01-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Is transparency too expensive to be a priority in Trenton? Don't believe it
Is transparency too expensive to be a priority in Trenton? Don't believe it | Opinion Let's take a quick look at Trenton's recent track record on government transparency and accountability: The Legislature, with Gov. Phil Murphy's signature, made it harder for the public, the press and other watchdogs to obtain public records. Lawmakers walked away from a promised bipartisan investigation into the mismanagement of state-run nursing homes for veterans where COVID-19 claimed more than 200 lives. The former CEO of the State Commission of Investigation quit earlier this month after the Asbury Park Press reported that she was teaching a full slate of courses in Washington, D.C., and claiming a principal residence in Maryland. The agency's asleep-at-the-wheel commissioners have offered little explanation of why they allowed Tiffany Williams Brewer to handle an out-of-state full-time job when she was paid to give her full-time attention to corruption and waste in New Jersey. The state comptroller, Kevin Walsh, who has been exposing waste and fraud all over the state since Murphy appointed him to the job, remains in only an 'acting' capacity. His appointment has been stalled by the unexplained whims of two Camden County legislators. His hard-hitting probes have made him few friends in the Legislature. Under the Orwellian-named Elections Transparency Act, the Legislature opened the floodgates for campaign cash, further making campaigns the sole province of the corporate, large-donor class. Some track record. At a time when millions fear the demise of democracy — especially now that President Donald Trump has unleashed a wrecking ball on many of the nation's laws and customs — the Democratic-dominated Statehouse has steadily signaled its contempt for transparency and accountability, two pillars of a vibrant democracy. Scutari's straight-faced conclusion: NJ has too many watchdogs Earlier this month, I asked Senate President Nick Scutari, D-Union, about this recent track record. Didn't the laissez-faire attitude among the SCI commissioners — who apparently permitted this absurd, bistate employment arrangement that paid Williams Brewer $210,000 a year — reflect a general sense of indifference? Or even hostility to transparency and the role of watchdogs? It's hard to believe that lawmakers would have permitted such a cushy arrangement if, in fact, the SCI was truly treated as an important body that had the respect and full support of legislative leaders. Scutari replied — with a straight face — that perhaps New Jersey already has too many watchdogs and maybe it's time to begin consolidating them under one roof. 'I think what we have is a lot of watchdogs, a lot of them. We have ELEC [the Election Law Enforcement Commission], SCI, we have the comptroller, the Attorney General's Office, we have county prosecutors,' he said. 'One of these days we're going to have to look at consolidation of those efforts.' I didn't take it as a serious answer but an attempt to say something to deflect from the indefensible. It should be noted that the county prosecutors are already under the jurisdiction of the Attorney General's Office. And consolidating the comptroller and others under the sprawling tent of the attorney general would likely mean their operations would be limited or curtailed by other priorities under the office's purview, like the state police, oversight of the casino industry regulation and the vast army of lawyers already tracking down civil and criminal matters. And besides, the SCI, which was created in the wake of the embarrassing corruption and organized crime scandals in the late 1960s and early 1970s; ELEC, which tracks campaign finance activity; and the comptroller's office already share their findings with the attorney general when they flag a potential violation of the law. Our view: As the SCI scandal swirls, Scutari says NJ needs fewer watchdogs. Is he serious? | Editorial What about acting Comptroller Kevin Walsh? The experience of the Office of the State Comptroller has also been baffling. Scutari was asked if he might use his power as Senate president to suspend the 'senatorial courtesy' privileges that have blocked the confirmation of acting Comptroller Kevin Walsh of Pennsauken. Two Camden County Democrats, state Sen. Jim Beach and state Sen. Nilsa Cruz-Perez, have sat on Walsh's nomination for five years without offering an explanation. Cruz-Perez refused to discuss the matter at Murphy's recent State of the State address, and I didn't catch up to Beach. The Senate president said he had considered taking such a rare step but decided against it. He said he doesn't believe Walsh has the 21 votes in the Senate to confirm him. And if Scutari posted his vote for confirmation, it might fail and Walsh would be forced to step down. So why the lack of votes? Scutari said there is concern that the comptroller's office has spent an 'extraordinary amount of money' on investigations 'without producing one criminal charge.' Perhaps there is another reason impeding Walsh's confirmation: Those investigations have produced some unflattering findings about the waste, fraud and mismanagement in towns and jurisdictions that are under the political control of party bosses across the state. Walsh's office has taken aim at Pennsauken's insurance brokerage contracts with the firm controlled by South Jersey power broker George Norcross; targeted improper awarding of jail contracts in Hudson County; and even called for a 'corrective action' in Scutari's political fief of Union County where high-level officials — and allies of Scutari — were boosting their pay with stipends and tuition reimbursements without enacting a salary ordinance. In other words, he's made too many enemies. Scutari denied that it was the case. Walsh defended his record and said his office recouped more than $530 million in taxpayer money over the last four fiscal years, 12 times the amount of money the office spent over the same period. The office has probed into corners of government operations that have long been ignored or subject to lax oversight: nursing homes, prisons and the Medicaid program. He asserts that the office is responsible for kicking 850 'bad providers' out of the New Jersey Medicaid program. Column continues below social post As for indictments? The office has made over 200 referrals to law enforcement agencies. 'I focus on what the law requires," Walsh told me in an interview. 'My job is to protect the taxpayers and to provide transparency, and that's what I've done. I've done it for five years.' He said he was assured by then-Senate President Stephen Sweeney, Cruz-Perez and Beach in 2020 that he would be confirmed. Since then, he's been unable to get any clarity about his status. 'Nobody has ever told me why I haven't been confirmed," Walsh said. He will continue to do his work, without concern about the political consequences. And Murphy has reappointed Walsh at the end of each legislative session, which is a sign of support. But here in New Jersey, at the start of Trump 2.0, transparency, accountability, ethical reform and watchdogs are taking a back seat. Charlie Stile is a veteran New Jersey political columnist. For unlimited access to his unique insights into New Jersey's political power structure and his powerful watchdog work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today. Email: stile@
