On Monday’s legislative session day, legislation re-introduced by Senate President Sweeney and Senator Kristin Corrado that would prohibit county party chairs from serving as county clerks is up for a full vote.  Read the backstory here, here, and here.  The bill passed the State Government Committee – chaired by Sweeney ally Jim Beach (D-6) – earlier this year.  

The Senate Judiciary Committee will interview Acting Treasurer Liz Muoio at their hearing on Monday; in December, when her selection was announced, Republicans pounced on what they say is her lack of qualifications and promised a full vetting of the nominee.  NJGOP Chairman Doug Steinhardt and Senator Corrado earlier this month urged members of the Judiciary Committee – on which Corrado sits – to nix her nomination and vote it down.    

Corrado released a statement on Friday afternoon citing a OLS report on a 2002 Mercer County audit when Muoio was a freeholder, and called on the nominee to explain: “During our routine research into Acting Treasurer Muoio’s time as a Mercer County Freeholder, we were disturbed to learn that the county could not account for the receipt or appropriate use of $33 million of state and federal grants. Further, we were shocked to learn that hundreds of thousands of dollars went missing, which an independent auditor was unable to locate. Given Acting Treasurer Muoio’s indication to the Judiciary Committee that she worked ‘closely’ on budgets during her time in local office, we’d like to know if she can explain these financial discrepancies that occurred on her watch.”

The report is below: