Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg issued the following statement after former Governor, and current State Senator from Essex County Richard Codey claimed the Legislative Select Oversight Committee’s (LSOC) purpose was to embarrass Governor Murphy’s administration. The LSOC was tasked with investigating the hiring practices of the administration after allegations of sexual assault by Katie Brennan were mishandled and ultimately overlooked in order to hire her alleged assaulter Al Alvarez:

“I am sorry Governor Codey chooses to view this important investigation through such a small and limited prism.

“Perhaps Governor Codey sees the hours of questions, concerns and statements as an ‘attempt to embarrass the governor’ but I can assure you that neither I, nor anyone else on the committee, acted with that goal. Our goal was to listen to Katie Brennan, to give anyone else a chance to answer her accusations, to take testimony from others experienced with women’s issues and sexual assault, and to ensure our employees are safer and better respected next time.

“Whether understood by the former Governor or not, our joint committee dealt with serious and even critical issues for not only the women of our state, but all our citizens. We issued a strong and clear report. The report, in fact, resulted in a series of bills that were recently released from committee and will soon be voted on by the full Senate, including Governor Codey.

“This was not a frivolous political exercise, it was born of serious misjudgment and negligence, and it generated concrete changes that will keep people, particularly women, safer and more protected in the future.”