TRENTON — Following calls from Democratic legislative leaders, Gov. Chris Christie today announced he signed an executive order for his administration to track billions of dollars in federal aid for Hurricane Sandy that will flow through the state.
"We all come from the same place on this," Christie said at a Statehouse news conference. "It’s essential that we make sure we have the confidence of the people of New Jersey and the people of the United States in this process."
Democratic leaders called for tighter controls after The Star-Ledger reported that a Florida-based company, AshBritt, was awarded a $100 million no-bid contract to remove tons of debris from coastal communities, and that it hired a team of well-connected political consultants to help the firm also win work in 43 municipalities.
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Christie said State Comptroller Matthew Boxer would independently review the awarding of contracts, and set up a website for the public to see how the federal funds are being administered by the state.
In addition, the governor said the state would hire "accountability officers" with oversight in every department that deals with rebuilding.
While Christie said he "supports the spirit" of oversight measures put forward by Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex), he said he was not influenced by questions about the AshBritt contract.
"No, it has nothing to do with AshBritt," Christie told a Star-Ledger reporter. "The only people who care about AshBritt are the people who work at your paper."
Sweeney and Oliver proposed hiring "integrity monitors" to protect against fraud and abuse, using as a model the monitors installed by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in the rebuilding effort after 9/11. Sweeney called Christie’s plan "better late than never."
"In the end, this is not about finger pointing," Sweeney said in a statement yesterday. "This is about making sure the families and businesses impacted by the storm receive every resource possible."
On Thursday, an Assembly committee approved a bill (A61) that would establish a website, require quarterly reports on recovery spending and expedite reports should problems arise.
Asked if he would sign the Assembly bill if it came to him, Christie declined to answer what he called a "hypothetical question."
Christie said Boxer’s office would now clear all Sandy-related contracts before they are awarded instead of the usual procedure in which only those in excess of $10 million were cleared before being granted.
"Overseeing the expenditure of billions of dollars in federal reconstruction funds requires a comprehensive, multifaceted plan that can be implemented in a timely manner," said Boxer, who was appointed by former Gov. Jon Corzine.
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Christie said the state would submit a plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development by Feb. 18 for how it intends to spend a $1.8 billion block grant — the first one to flow into the state for rebuilding. In recent months, Congress has approved about $60 billion for rebuilding in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.
In Washington, a spokeswoman for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which oversees disaster recovery, said Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the committee chairman, planned to hold a hearing in the coming weeks.
A spokesman for the ranking Republican on the committee, Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, said the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency, must aggressively oversee the spending "to make sure federal taxpayer dollars are being used efficiently."
A spokesman for FEMA declined to say if the agency had any concerns about the no-bid contract awarded to AshBritt, but added: "As we continue to work with states impacted by Hurricane Sandy, FEMA has guidelines in place to ensure that we are responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars."
