Assembly Speaker Prieto’s Office Denies Stealth Liberty State Park Gambit

Prieto Caught Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley

Sneakin’ Sally through the alley,

Trying to keep her out of sight.

Sneakin’ Sally though the alley,

When up pops the wife.  (Robert Palmer – Listen)

[Update 1/2/15 – wow. Speaker Prieto himself now goes on record with falsehood in denying the deal. Jersey Journal reports:

Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto of Secaucus, who supports the bill that now awaits Gov. Chris Christie’s signature, says Pesin and FOLSP have no reason to fret.

“This does not change any state laws of how the park is governed or how anything is regulated there,” Prieto said.

Prieto says DEP would maintain control of the park, but the state agency would have the option to send a project to the new commission if it chooses to.

Has Prieto read his own bill?

As discussed below, it amends State law to to provide new jurisdiction and powers to the new MRC, and say that the new MRC “shall Evaluate, approve, and implement any plan or plans ” for LSP and that  “Any approved plans shall constitute a project of the commission, and shall be adopted as part of the master plan;”

Shall. No wiggle room.

Those are significant substantive changes to State law. Prieto is either inept or lying. ~~~ end update]

Looks like we start the new year with a bang!

When you’re caught with your pants down, hand in the cookie jar, and sneakin’ Sally through the alley, it’s probably best to apologize, fall on your sword, cleanup the mess, do damage control, and move on. You know, when you’re in a hole, stop digging.

But it seems like Assembly Speaker Prieto’s Office doesn’t quite get it.

Today, the Bergen Record reports: (and kudos to Scott Fallon for a kick ass story):

A paragraph added at the last minute to a bill awaiting Governor Christie’s signature puts a new state commission in charge of development of Liberty State Park, a move some believe will make it easier for the park’s coveted Hudson River waterfront to be sold or leased to private developers.

Three sentences, buried in the 80-page legislation that combines two Meadowlands agencies, allow a new commission to “evaluate, approve and implement any plan or plans for the further preservation, development, enhancement or improvement of Liberty State Park” in Jersey City.

It is unclear who added the paragraph. A spokes­man for Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, the bill’s primary sponsor, would not say.

There are several highly unusual red flags in this case.

First of all, the sponsor of a bill, particularly when the sponsor is the Assembly Speaker, completely controls and is responsible for the contents of a bill – every word, and certainly something as substantive as a specific provision regarding jurisdiction, powers, and control over Liberty State Park.

Nothing substantive gets inserted in a bill without the sponsor’s knowledge and express approval.

Second, almost all substantive provisions of a bill are summarized in a Committee or Floor Statement by OLS. There was no mention of Liberty State Park in any bill summary or statement.

Third, the Liberty State Park provision was not in the introduced version of the bill.

When a bill gets amended by a Committee or on the floor of the Assembly or Senate, the change is noted and summarized in a statement. In this case, the Assembly Floor statement says the LSP amendment was done to make the bill identical to the Senate [2R] version. But the Senate 2 [R] version does not include the LSP amendment. Then, the Senate Floor statement says that the LSP amendment was done to make the Senate bill identical to the Assembly Floor version! It is literally impossible to identify the source

Fourth, the was no Committee or floor discussion of the LSP issue.

Fifth, despite the fact that it is complex piece of legislation and drafting errors or other mistakes could have been made, if something like this got inserted in Speaker Prieto’s bill without his knowledge, whomever did that should be fired.

But, this is not a case of a simple misunderstanding or inadvertent legislative drafting error. The language targets only LSP. The powers granted to the new MRC are specific, not vague.

The obvious conclusion from these facts is that the LSP provision was a stealth attempt –  to sneak  Sally through the alley.

Prieto’s spokesman not only refused to take responsibility for the Liberty State Park provision and say that the Speaker would work with the Governor’s Office to fix the mistake via a Conditional Veto, he doubled down:

A spokesman for Prieto said that despite the measure, no changes to Liberty State Park could be made without consent of the Department of Environmental Protection, the agency that oversees state parks. “The new commission will not have any control over Liberty State Park and any suggestion to the contrary is false,” said Phil Swibinski, spokesman for Prieto, a Democrat from Secaucus. […]

Prieto’s spokesman said the language only allows the new commission to review pending preservation or development plans “that the DEP is considering and to offer its recommendations, just as it currently does with other open space and zoning decisions within the Meadowlands district.”

Well, let’s examine Mr. Swibinski’s claim.

Here is the complete text of the Liberty State Park provision: (see page 26 – my highlights)

m. Evaluate, approve, and implement any plan or plans for the further preservation, development, enhancement, or improvement of Liberty State Park and the buildings, structures, properties, and appurtenances related thereto, or incidental to, necessary for, or complimentary to the park. The commission may avail itself of any plans under review by the Department of Environmental Protection from any source that may promote expanded and diverse recreational, cultural, and educational opportunities for visitors to Liberty State Park and provide greater access to park facilities. Any approved plans shall constitute a project of the commission, and shall be adopted as part of the master plan;

Note that the language is exclusive to Liberty State Park.

Then consider the fact that the language amends Section 19 of current law, which grants the Hackensack Meadowlands Commission various specific environmental and recreational powers:

19. The commission shall safeguard the environmental resources of the district and provide quality public recreation and educational opportunities. The commission shall:

So, the language grants NEW jurisdiction over a NEW parcel of land and a NEW set of powers of that are specific and exclusive to LSP.

Those powers include 1) approval over any plan for LSP;  2) implementation of any plan for LSP; 3) promotion of expanded recreational, cultural, and educational opportunities for visitors; and 4) complete primary planning and implementation control, i.e.: “Any approved plans shall constitute a project of the commission, and shall be adopted as part of the master plan;

These powers are new, the jurisdiction is new, they put the new MRC in charge (not DEP), and they have nothing whatsoever to do with Speaker Prieto’s staffer’s spin, i.e. that the provision is just a continuation of the status quo:

“just as it currently does with other open space and zoning decisions within the Meadowlands district.”

Always amazed to see that the coverup is always worse than the crime.

“The Assembly is the people’s house.”  NJ Assembly Speaker Prieto

[PS – My sources tell me that the LSP amendment was put in the bill at the request of the Governor’s Office. Prieto cut the deal instead of jeopardizing a Gov. veto of his bill.

That seems consistent with Gov. Christie’s parks privatization policy.

As I’ve noted.

Governor Christie’s  “Sustainable Parks Funding Strategy” (see also Governor Christie’ press release) seeks to maximize concession revenues in State parks and to privatize commercial revenue generating operations in State parks.

The head of DEP’s Parks and Natural Resource programs, Assistant Commissioner Rich Boornazian,  is a former real estate hack, with no environmental training or experience.

At the same time, DEP has failed to collect lease revenues from major corporate Parks land users, like oil and gas pipelines and electric power transition lines (see this from our friends at PEER: