Child advocate group holding informational session
Hudson County CASA (court appointed special advocate) is recruiting volunteers to advance the best interests of abused and neglected children.
An informational session, addressing the program and the role of its volunteers, will be held on Tuesday, March 10, from 6 to 7 p.m. in Room 901 of the Hudson County Administration Building, 595 Newark Ave., Jersey City.
For more information, call (201) 795-9855, e-mail mgarcia@hudsoncountycasa.org or visit www.hudsoncountycasa.org.
Hudson County Surrogate to speak at Rotary Club on March 10
Hudson County Surrogate Joseph J. Ryglicki, Esq. will be addressing the Rotary Club of Secaucus on the topics of advanced health directives, guardianships, investments, long term care planning, powers of attorney, taxes and trusts, and the responsibilities of administrators and executors, on March 10 at 12:15 p.m. at La Reggia Restaurant, Meadowland Plaza Hotel, 40 Wood Ave.
Former DEP official says Christie lawyer cut deal with Exxon
A former official of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has charged that Gov. Christopher Christie’s chief counsel intervened in talks to settle a 10 year old lawsuit between the state and Exxon Mobil, according to published reports on Thursday.
In an Op-Ed in the New York Times, Bradley M. Campbell cited “former colleagues of mine in state government” who told him Christopher S. Porrino “elbowed aside the attorney general and career employees who had developed and prosecuted the litigation, and cut the deal favorable to Exxon.” The company had already been found liable and the only question that remained was the amount of the judgment it would have to pay.
As a judge deliberated whether to assess the $8.9 billion in environmental damages the state sought, he said, the Christie administration stepped in, twice asked for and received delays in concluding the case, and agreed to take about $250 million to settle the case.
Campbell pointed out that while Christie was chairman of the Republican Governors Association in 2014, the group received $500,000 from Exxon and more from company employees, while the New Jersey trial was still underway.
The Times said Campbell, an attorney and former New Jersey DEP commissioner, was also administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s mid-Atlantic region from 1999 to 2001.
Campbell called the proposed settlement, which still must be approved by a judge, “an embarrassment to law enforcement and good government.”
A second Times story said Porrino, Christie’s general counsel since January 2014, had previously served two years as director of the Division of Law in the attorney general’s office, placing him in an oversight position over the Exxon litigation.
The state attorney general launched the lawsuit against Exxon in 2004, claiming the company contaminated more than 1,500 acres of wetlands, marshes, and meadows at two refinery sites in Bayonne and Linden. Exxon disputed the state’s arguments saying they “ignored the evidence, science, and the law.”
Neither Porrino or Exxon would give the Times a statement and so far Christie’s office has not commented. But environmentalists and other state officials have condemned the proposed settlement.
As reported by nj.com, State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) said Thursday if Campbell’s information is accurate, “Acting Attorney General [John] Hoffman has abdicated his responsibility as the chief law enforcement officer of the state,” and called for Hoffman’s resignation.
State Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D – Gloucester) said on Tuesday the Senate would seek to intervene in the lawsuit and try to block the deal from being approved. On Thursday, Sweeney reacted to Campbell’s allegations, according to nj.com, by saying if Campbell’s information is true U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman should investigate the circumstances surrounding the state’s Exxon settlement.
Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D – Secaucus) and the chairman of the Assembly’s Judiciary Committee, John F. McKeon, plan to hold hearings on March 19.