In a desperate attempt to gain any kind of foothold in New Jersey statewide politics, the Republican party, led by their standard-bearer, Gubernatorial hopeful Doug Forrester, is calling for the resignation of the State Attorney General over the distribution of NJ's homeland security funds, which they claim is going primarily to Democratic districts.
In articles in today's
Newark Star-Ledger and the
Courier-Post, GOP Gubernatorial candidate Doug Forrester called for the resignation of the State's Attorney General, Peter Harvey, due to the GOP's claim that 93 percent of New Jersey's homeland security funding was unfairly distributed to primarily Democratic districts.
"Once again the attorney general has displayed a very disturbing pattern of behavior which highlights his inability to serve as the state's chief law enforcement officer," Forrester said Wednesday.
Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for Harvey, said he had no reaction to Forrester's comment.
The study by the Star-Ledger, published Wednesday, found that Democratic districts received $21.3 million of the money distributed through the state since 2002, while Republican areas got just $1.6 million. The report was based on statistics supplied by acting Gov. Richard J. Codey's office.
The grants are federal dollars distributed by Harvey's office to municipalities for equipment for first responders - such as police, fire and ambulance services.
According to figures supplied by the Attorney General's Office, nearly $8.7 million was distributed in the state in 2003 to 91 municipalities, almost $6 million to 87 municipalities in 2004, and about $8.3 million to 101 municipalities in 2005. Codey eliminated the program from the state's budget beginning on July 1.
Republican lawmakers said Wednesday if the analysis of the funds' distribution is correct, it means that politics influenced Harvey's office.
"I think its unconscionable to play politics with something as important as homeland security," said state Sen. Diane Allen, R-Edgewater Park
In typical Republican fashion, the State's other GOP legislators fell in line behind Forrester, even as their colleagues in Congress continue to ignore the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission that 100 percent of homeland security funding be distributed on the basis of risk level. As today's NY Times Editorial Page points out, the Senate approved a plan to only distribute 60 percent of the funding based on need, so that we can be assured that Wyoming's cows are as high a priority as New York's people.
Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon) said the attorney general must release the criteria used to award towns in Democratic-controlled districts $21.3 million while giving towns in Republican districts just $1.6 million.
"Mr. Harvey owes all of us an explanation," said Lance. "He needs to assure the people of New Jersey that everything is being done to protect them regardless of which party represents them in the Legislature."
Sens. Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen) and Thomas Kean Jr. (R- Union) said the Senate Judiciary Committee should call a special hearing to investigate the grant proposals. And Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Forrester flat-out called for Harvey's resignation.
News that towns in Democratic districts got the lion's share of the state homeland security grants angered some municipal officials whose own grant proposals got turned down.
"It's foolish in the extreme," said Peapack-Gladstone Republican Councilman William Horton, whose borough sought $150,000 to purchase equipment. "Terrorists will not plan attacks on party lines."
Ralph Blakeslee, Mendham Borough's administrator, said he wasn't surprised by the controversy. His municipality applied for $75,000 in grant money to purchase an incident command vehicle for the fire department and got nothing.
"We have just as many needs as the towns in those urban areas," Blakeslee said. "Terrorism can strike anywhere. We need to seriously look into this (funding) issue."
When Hillsborough Township in Somerset County learned it was not going to get any of the $200,000 it had requested for its police, firefighters and rescue squad, officials wrote to the attorney general to ask why.
The response, received on July 1, didn't shed much light on the reason for the rejection, stating only that there were too many requests, and suggesting the township apply for federal monies.
"The more I think about it, the madder I get," said Committeeman Steven Sireci. "I was practically choking -- we're Republicans, that's what we're doing wrong. I suspect that politics plays a lot with these grants. But this is now security we're talking about, post 9/11, and you're doing that by politics, too?"
Rather than lobby their majority bretheren in Congress to provide more money to New Jersey overall, the GOPers would rather attack the Democratic leadership for trying to make the best of a bad situation. Just last year, targets in Newark were included in the Homeland Security Department's high-alert terrorism warning for financial districts. NJ is also home to Newark Airport, Port Elizabeth, numerous bridges and tunnels to NYC and Philly, and dozens of chemical plants and refineries. Yet, NJ officials have an ever-shrinking pot of money to use to protect these sites, due to rural favoritism at the federal level.
The likely (and correct) answer to the discrepancy in funds is simple: NJ's most populated and, therefore, high-risk areas, happen to be Democratic strongholds. To give you an idea, here are the vote totals received by Kerry and Bush in NJ's most high-risk security areas. I list them by county, and in parenthesis, I put that county's major cities:
Essex (Newark): Kerry 71%, Bush 29%
Mercer (Trenton): Kerry 62%, Bush 38%
Hudson (Bayonne, Jersey City, Hoboken, Secaucus, Union City, Weehawken): Kerry 68%, Bush 32%
Union (Elizabeth, Linden): Kerry 59%, Bush 41%
Also of note is the fact that the Congressional districts represented here (Districts 8, 10, 12, & 13) all have Democrats in the House. These areas are also Dem strongholds in the State Legislature, and our current Acting Governor, a Dem, is also from the northern industrial area of the State.
By and large, the Republicans represent the most rural, sparsely-populated areas of the State, and their complaints ring hollow to me, because they are nowhere to be found when Senators Corzine and Lautenberg, as well as Governor Codey and the Dem. members of our House delegation, have been pleading for a better formula for funds distribution. Corzine has also made the protection of chemical plants a key focus of his time in the Senate, but his pleas fall on deaf ears, and the GOP in NJ is too busy blaming him for NJ not getting more money, when they should be the ones getting on the backs of their GOP colleagues to work with us on making the formula better.
The fact is, NJ is an example of how the nation should be getting funds as a whole. By a large margin, the highest-risk areas in the U.S. are the "blue" areas, but as long as the Rethugs are in power, they'll keep doling out pork to their buddies and leaving the real targets high-and-dry, fighting over the crumbs that are left.