Posted on 08/20/2005 10:32:41 AM PDT by BATNF
Incumbent team raps Assembly opponent
Security grants crux of debate Published in the Asbury Park Press 08/20/05
BY CAROL GORGA WILLIAMS COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
Republican Assemblymen Sean T. Kean and Steven J. Corodemus on Friday continued their attack on their Democratic opponent, Jim Reilly, for his possible connection to the lack of homeland security fund grants in the 11th District.
In a prepared statement, Kean and Corodemus said voters in the 11th District "have cause to question the competence and political motives" of Reilly and his running mate, Matthew J. Doherty who, the Republicans said, refuse to acknowledge "mounting and irrefutable evidence" that the Democratic Party politically manipulated the state's anti-terrorism grant program.
They focus their attack on Reilly, who in his former job, was a lawyer to the Assembly Democrats and an aide to the Assembly Homeland Security Committee.
"Our nation is at war with terrorists," said Kean in the statement. "Hundreds of New Jersey residents died in the attack on the World Trade Center.
The likelihood sleeper cells are active in New Jersey is high.
Federal and state officials have cautioned us that New Jersey must remain vigilant because the risk of a terrorist attack within our borders is very real."
The 11th District received no homeland security grants, while in the 12th District, which is represented by Assemblymen Michael Panter and Robert Morgan, both D-Monmouth, Freehold Township received $158,000, Manalapan received $187,000 and Marlboro received $196,000, according to the Republicans.
The Republicans said almost $7.8 million of the $8.3 million in homeland security funds distributed last year went to Democratic districts with 93 percent of $23 million going to those same districts since 2002.
Ocean Township Mayor William Larkin said his town's application for $179,831 in homeland security funds was denied by the Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee.
"Nobody should be playing politics with the safety and security of the people of Ocean Township," Larkin said in the statement distributed by the Republicans. "We need to know these funds are being distributed fairly, responsibly and equitably."
In a response from the Democrats, Reilly and Doherty said the attack by the Republicans was "a brazen attempt to cover up their own incompetence.
". . . Despite a combined 16 years in the New Jersey State Legislature, Assemblymen Kean and Corodemus proved that they have no idea how the Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee functions or who is responsible for the distribution of homeland security funds," Reilly said.
Reilly said the federal funds are controlled by each state's attorney general, who distributes funding to communities based on need, as expressed in grant applications. New Jersey Attorney General is Peter Harvey, a Democrat.
Reilly said the Assembly committee primarily deals with the oversight of homeland security training for first responders, creating anti-terror commissions, aiding victims of the 9/11 terror attacks and increasing the penalties for breaking the law in high risk areas of the state.
Meanwhile, Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce, R-Morris, renewed his call for Democrats to conduct legislative hearings to investigate the controversy.
Last week, DeCroce and Assemblyman Francis Bodine, R-Burlington, sent a letter to Assembly Speaker Albio Sires, D-Hudson, and Assemblywoman Joan Quigley, D-Hudson, urging them to call for legislative hearings to investigate the matter.
"My town has legitimate homeland security concerns, and we expended time, money and effort on these grant applications," said Long Branch Councilman Anthony Giordano, a Republican, in the statement. "We deserve to know if Jim Reilly agreed with our applications being ignored and whether he is willing to condemn the officials in Trenton who turned a legitimate homeland security program into nothing more than a pot of political pork."
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This is an important story. I hope it gets more press coverage.
So do I. I think Sean Kean has been on the radio about this for a week. The guy he is running against was the policy lawyer for the Homeland Sec. Commision in NJ.
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