A Story Of Self Dealing And Propaganda
Remarkable Hypocrisy Provided A Platform At NJ Spotlight
NJ Audubon Gave $123,000 To NJ League of Conservation Voters
NJ Spotlight just published an Op-Ed that is stunning in its hypocritical Orwellian revisionism, see:
Looking at New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection staffing since 2008, there were 3,240 full-time staff working, according to reports from the NJ Civil Service Commission … Although park visitation has not decreased, and in fact has increased substantially in 2020, DEP staffing has decreased by approximately 17% since 2008. Without proper staffing, parks cannot provide the services and amenities necessary for the heavy usage they are receiving. So, how can we prepare for the upcoming parks season?
The DEP staff cuts reflect the DEP budget, which is something the authors intentionally ignore (as is the 2008 baseline year, which also is designed to divert from more recent cuts that resulted from the Keep It Green Open Space diversions).
[And BTW, the biggest DEP budget and staff cuts were imposed by Gov. Christie Whitman (>27%), prior to 2008. (See “Whitman: A Toxic Choice”) One of the authors was at DEP at the time and knows this, but has instead chosen to give Whitman a pass. Whitman also diverted hundreds of millions of dollars of environmental funds, which was the reason for the Constitutional Amendment dedicating 4% of the corporate business tax to DEP programs. Those were the funds the Keep It Green campaign stole. Democrat Jon Corzine was terrible, but not quite as bad as Whitman. The ironies and contradictions pile up the more history is understood and interrogated. ]
We explain all that, see:
This is no accident – the NJ Spotlight Op-Ed authors do that for a reason.
The Op-Ed was written jointly by NJ Audubon and NJ League Of Conservation Voters. They don’t want you to know about this:
Here’s why they didn’t mention the DEP budget:
The Bergen Record finally published a story on funding cuts for the maintenance of NJ State Parks and how the Keep It Green Coalition – led by NJ Audubon and their Foundation and corporate friends – duped the voters into slashing those funds, despite a known $400 million backlog in capital maintenance projects, see:
It is a complex story to tell, but it all boils down to this (Bergen Record):
“Some environmentalists say the amendment had an unintended but severe impact on the Natural and Historic Resources capital budget. The budget had been replenished each year from the same tax, a dedication secured in a prior, 2006 voter-approved constitutional amendment. That amendment was to provide a “reliable and stable source of funding” that would enable the DEP to make “long-term investments in the state park system,” according to a 2013 draft of the state’s Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan.
It provided about $15 million annually, and would have doubled to $32 million in 2016. ...
Mark Texel, head of the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry, called it a “massive blow” and said in a Facebook post soon after the vote that it was “the darkest day I have faced in my professional career.” [**Note: he called it “worse than Sandy“]
“We had a plan to really tackle some of these major capital projects that had been deferred for many, many years,” Texel said. “And we were making progress. Suddenly now our capital budget is having the legs cut out from underneath it. … It was disappointing, I admit. I was very disappointed.
Finally, despite the continuing lies and pushback to undermine and divert attention from the nasty truth, the press finally held the culprits at Keep It Green accountable:
Bill Wolfe, director of the non-profit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said he didn’t believe that voters in 2014 knew this would happen.
He accused NJ Keep It Green of “intentionally, knowingly” stripping state parks of capital funding to finance Green Acres so they wouldn’t have to ask voters to approve a bond. That, he said, let open space groups avoid a public brawl with Governor Christie, who has demanded no new debt be placed on taxpayers. The coalition, he said, “didn’t have the spine to fight for the money.”
The “Keep It Green Coalition” was responsible for this diversion of hundreds of millions of dollars of State Park funding.
They don’t want to tell you about all that.
Their fellow Foundation funded lackeys at NJ Spotlight won’t force the issue. It’s a gross whitewash.
I’ve long complained of the corrupt and incestuous self dealing between some NJ conservation groups, (AKA “Keep It Green Coalition”) specifically including NJ Audubon and NJ LCV, whom I’ve called part of the “Green Mafia”.
I’ve documented how these corrupt relationships have harmed the public interest, especially NJ’s public lands and State Parks.
So, I was not surprised to learn recently that NJ Audubon paid the NJ League Of Conservation Voters $114,500 for “publications” (see page 61)
I explained how this self dealing corruption operated:
I warned about exactly how this corruption negatively impacts State parks, see:
The diversion of State Parks capital funds prompted NJ DEP State Parks Director Mark Texel to speak out publicly in opposition.
Director Mark Texel wrote the following on Keep It Green Facebook page on 11/5/14:
As the Director of the NJ State Park Service now coping with the reality that our entire Parks capital budget will be completely eliminated beginning July 1, 2015 as a result of the YES vote I can say this is the darkest day I have faced in my professional career. Worse than Superstorm Sandy. 440,000+ acres of preserved open space, 52 historic sites, 39 parks — used by 8 million visitors each year — all managed by my agency and now with no funding plan in place for stewardship beginning in just 7 months. This is not a bad reality TV show. This is New Jersey’s Inconvenient Truth hidden from voters throughout this campaign.
As the Bergen Record reported at the time (see: Budget cuts doom state parks to disrepair (6/28/17):
Bill Wolfe, director of the non-profit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said he didn’t believe that voters in 2014 knew this would happen.
He accused NJ Keep It Green of “intentionally, knowingly” stripping state parks of capital funding to finance Green Acres so they wouldn’t have to ask voters to approve a bond. That, he said, let open space groups avoid a public brawl with Governor Christie, who has demanded no new debt be placed on taxpayers. The coalition, he said, “didn’t have the spine to fight for the money.”
The people of NJ should be outraged by this incompetent, greedy self dealing masquerading as public interest public land conservation.
Sadly, NJ Spotlight will not only not tell the people about this, but they provided a platform for their fellow foundation funded fraudsters to lie to readers about it.
That is corrupt.
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