Home > Uncategorized > Does The Public’s Right-To-Know Include Meetings Between Corporate Lobbyist And DEP?

Does The Public’s Right-To-Know Include Meetings Between Corporate Lobbyist And DEP?

Senator Weinberg and Senate President Sweeney discuss legislation to update Sunshine law and OPRA (6/14/12)

Corporate Closed Door Meetings At DEP Remain Secret Due TO OPRA “Privacy” Loophole

I happened upon a State House press conference yesterday by Senator Weinberg and Senate President Sweeney to discuss pending legislation to update the “Sunshine law”  (S1451 Open Government Meetings Act) and the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) (S1452) (read excellent NJ Spotlight coverage here).

So, as someone who files hundreds of OPRA requests at DEP and actively works on issues regarding transparency and open government at the state level, I sat in and listened. And I heard open government and public right to know activists heap praise on Senator Weinberg for her legislation.

I heard a lot about local government reforms – but nothing about state government and the important issues I work on, including a successful OPRA lawsuit and my efforts to reform OPRA practices by filing of  DEP rule making petitions.

Certainly, no one was talking bout THIS: Chemical Industry Lobbyists Met With DEP Commissioner Today

Hal Bozarth (L) "The Godfather of NJ Toxics" and Tony Russo of the NJ Chemistry Council sign in at DEP (10/1/09). They weren't there to talk about flag day!

Or any of this:

I sat there with mounting frustration at what seemed to be exaggerated praise for minor reforms at the local level.

Far more important abuses of power at the state level were being ignored.

So, at the end, after the few softball questions from the State House press corps, I got to ask Senator Weinberg a tough two part question:

Senator: Do you agree that transparency and the public’s right to know you support at the local government level also should apply to Executive Branch State Departments?

And If so, does the public have a right to know about corporate lobbyists meetings with high level DEP officials?

This is particularly important given a recent media investigation (Todd Bates, APP) which revealed that DEP is meeting with polluters behind closed doors to negotiate enforcement fines. These meetings have resulted in millions of dollars of enforcement and compliance regulatory relief.

Senator Weinberg said of course she supported that – at which point I explained to her that DEP took the legal position that under OPRA, such information was exempt.

DEP’s legal rationale was that corporate lobbyists who met with DEP officials have a “reasonable expectation of privacy” and therefore meeting records are exempted under OPRA. Here is DEP’s “privacy” rationale:

“Disclosure of the Commissioner’s schedule and the schedules of Department staff also implicates privacy interests of the people with whom public officials meet. See Smith, supra, citing Gannett N.J. Partners, LP v. County of Middlesex, 379 N.J. Super. 205 (2005) and North Jersey Newspapers Company v. Passaic County Board of Freeholders, 127 N.J. 9, 16-18 (1992)(the requested schedule of the Commissioner is exempt from public access on the basis that it implicates privacy interests of persons who meet with public officials and is protected by executive privilege).”

I spoke with Weinberg’s Senate staffer after the conference and asked him if Weinberg was interested in amendments to close the DEP loopholes I just mentioned.

He indicated support – so, let’s see if he will deliver.

The bills will be heard soon by the Senate Budget Committee, so there is an opportunity to get amendments before it goes to the floor.

We’ll keep you posted.

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  1. Ed Meakem
    June 15th, 2012 at 12:02 | #1

    Does The Public’s Right-To-Know Include Meetings Between Corporate Lobbyist And DEP?
    You Bet we do Bill!

  2. zimmerman
    June 15th, 2012 at 16:42 | #2

    One former member of the Christie transition team also happens to be a lawyer who represents developers. He has complete access to managers and decision makers at NJDEP. This growling pitbull seems to get what he wants. Good ol’ political cronyism is alive and well.

  3. Ed Meakem
    June 16th, 2012 at 09:05 | #3

    When you have people from DuPont on this type of committee you know our water is in trouble… P.S and working with the State of N.J. dont help!!!!!

  4. June 28th, 2012 at 09:12 | #4

    In the State of New Jersey if you request Government Records that expose the State’s and munipalities fraud and corruption the GRC gets a court order to ban you from attening the Open Public meeting and in the infested morris county vicinage under Docket SSX-L-847-07 Borough of Stanhope vs. Thomas Caggiano you get banned from submitting any OPRA request to its racketeering government by the corrupt Civil Part Judge David Rand, J.S.C. and by the corrupt Joint Municipal court in Green, Hampton, Fredon and Borough of Andover you are ONLY authorized to pay taxes, your water bill and sewer bill and get threatened with arrest and being placed into te corrupt Sussex County Jail by Stanhope, Sussex County Jail. The former Town Administrator Richard Stewart reported the corruption to the corrupt FBI (NJ) and corrupt State of NJ Official Corruption Bureau as Stanhope was submitting perjuried reports, committing perjury in courts, bribing persons and retaliating against informants. He got fired Dec 2, 2010 in retribution and the former corrupt Mayor Brian Mc Nielly took his place in the $106,000 job. read http://thomascaggiano.com/120625superiorcourt.pdf and find out words of transparency in government are a farce as the State of NJ is criminally infested

  5. June 28th, 2012 at 09:23 | #5

    @Thomas Caggiano

    Thomas – I skimmed some of your documents, and, frankly, have no idea what you are driving at.

    You need to make you allegations clear and support them with evidence.

    Who did why when and why is that wrong or illegal?

    Put that in 100 -200 words!

  6. Susan
    October 4th, 2012 at 01:33 | #6

    @Thomas Caggiano
    You state Judge Rand is corrupt. Just curious why? He just dismissed my case with prejudice against a doctor that broke my teeth.

  1. June 19th, 2012 at 12:40 | #1
  2. June 22nd, 2012 at 10:21 | #2
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