Solomon Campaign: Height of Hypocrisy for McGreevey To Talk About Misuse of Government Funds 

JERSEY CITY, NJ - James Solomon campaign manager Stuart Thomas issued the following statement in response to Jim McGreevey’s comments about how he plans to restore “integrity,” to Jersey City’s budget:

“Jim McGreevey's career in politics is littered with misuse of government funds that have cost the taxpayers – both in Trenton and right here in Jersey City. The McGreevey governorship was awash in corruption, and as executive director of the Jersey City Employment and Training Program, city audits revealed that millions of dollars were unaccounted for under McGreevey’s leadership before he was fired by the Board. Let’s be clear, corruption is a tax that Jersey City residents pay and they are sick of it. That’s why our campaign has proposed a far-reaching anti-corruption plan and why we’re going to stop the corruption tax in Jersey City once and for all. Voters are sick of promises from politicians who have lied and failed them and are ready to turn the page.”

McGreevey’s long misuse of funds include:

• Being fired from the Jersey City Employment and Training Program amidst allegations of “millions of dollars unaccounted for or redirected out of JCETP and into the nonprofit run by Jim McGreevey.”
• Getting healthcare benefits paid for by taxpayers for just four months of work as a Hudson County attorney, while earning a $75,000 salary, and securing a $66,837 annual pension.
• Billing more than $75,000 to the state for a mostly personal trip to Ireland
• Using a state helicopter 14 times on non-governmental trips, for which the Democratic Party had to reimburse the state $18,200.
• Taking $10 million from the state’s surplus to fund television and radio advertising campaigns which mostly featured McGreevey, despite his promise while campaigning that “you’re not going to see my face.”

FACT SHEET: James Solomon’s Plan to End the Corruption Tax on Jersey City Residents

Corruption erodes public trust in our city’s government and imposes a tax on all Jersey City residents. When a developer gets a tax break to build a luxury apartment tower, or the City renews its contract with a poor-performing but politically-connected vendor, residents face higher property taxes but receive worse services. James Solomon is the only candidate for Mayor who is committed to ending these practices and is truly independent and accountable only to you—developers and political machine bosses have already donated $424,905 to James’s opponents in this race. Today, Councilman Solomon is announcing proposals that will provide the strongest anti-corruption protections in the history of Jersey City, stronger than those of any other municipality in the state. As Mayor, Councilman Solomon will fight to ensure corruption is rooted out and punished, significantly increase government transparency, and end the dominance of developers and machine bosses in our elections. In doing so, he will work to get City taxpayers far better services, at a lower cost. As Mayor, he will:

1. End Corrupt Practices that Enrich the Few at the Expense of the City

• Stop nepotism in City hiring and public contracts by closing gaps in the City Ethics Code and ensuring violations are punished
• Establish New Jersey’s only independent municipal inspector general empowered to uncover and publicize corruption, like the illegal “boat payments” to political cronies uncovered by Councilman Solomon
• Prevent City Officials from coercing civil servants into political activity and protect whistleblowers
• Fight to reverse the state law that gutted Jersey City’s “pay-to-play” protections for public contracts, and require developers seeking city approvals and corporations bidding on public contracts to make comprehensive disclosures of political contributions

2. Give Residents True Transparency About City Government

• Support independent local news by partnering with local academic institutions and nonprofits to create grants and fellowships that support local journalism
• Provide maximum transparency for City public records and automatically publish the most important and frequently-requested public records, pushing back against big donor efforts in the State House to shield government records from public access
• Stream all public meetings online with an opportunity for virtual public comment and require that all meeting minutes are posted online in a searchable format
• Create the first online local public contracts database in the state, including all contracts that have been awarded with or without public bidding and information on pricing and services provided, and demographic information to help ensure fairness across public contracts

3. Get Special Interests Out of Politics By Empowering Small Donors to Local Political Campaigns 

• Establish New Jersey’s first municipal public matching funds program for small-dollar campaign contributions to candidates for Mayor, City Council, and School Board
  • Break the corrupt cycle of candidate dependence on large contributions from wealthy donors who expect political favors in return
  • Make it possible for residents of all backgrounds to run for office by amplifying the impact of small-dollar contributions
  • Protect the public treasury by requiring candidates to demonstrate viability before receiving matching funds and instituting a cap on matching funds that any individual candidate can receive