New Jersey Governor Chris Christie yesterday again exercised his veto authority to check inappropriate spending practices by state boards, authorities and commissions, with a veto of the Delaware River Port Authority’s January 19, 2011 meeting minutes. Specifically, the minutes included a resolution that would have authorized the payment of $37,500 to American Continental Group, Inc. for “federal legislative monitoring services” performed during 2010, when the contract with the firm expired in December 2009.
The resolution violated DRPA’s own recently-enacted procurement policies, adopted as a result of Governor Christie’s demand for reform at the Authority.
“In the absence of a valid, existing contract, procured through a competitive process, such a payment is simply improper and effectively amounts to a ‘no-bid’ contract,” said Governor Christie. “This payment violates the Authority’s own recently-enacted procurement policy reforms, enacted at my behest after the revelations of substantial waste, abuse and inappropriate expenditures at the Authority.”
In his veto message, Governor Christie also noted that Executive Order 15 generally prohibits state authorities from entering into any contract with a lobbyist. The Governor stated that if, as a bi-state authority, the DRPA believes it to be economically beneficial to employ such an agent for federal matters, that a request be submitted to the Authorities Unit with proof that a competitive procurement process was followed in accordance with the DRPA’s own procedures, along with a sufficient explanation to justify the need for a federal lobbyist.
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