Assistant Commissioner Cecil Consulted For A “Corporate Stewardship Council”
Cecil Wrote DEP Funded And Approved Logging Plans Before Joining DEP And Managing The Same Public Lands
Cecil’s Direct Involvement Triggers Mandatory Recusal Under State Ethics Law, But DEP Did Not Require And Still Supports Failure To Recuse
DEP Ethics Failures Pending Before State Ethics Commission
The Murphy DEP is doubling down on the revolving door ethical issues created by Assistant Commissioner John Cecil’s prior work before joining DEP.
Even after a complaint was filed to the State Ethics Commission regarding Mr. Cecil’s failure to recuse from DEP decisions, DEP discloses that they affirmatively approved of Cecil’s failure to recuse and stand by that revolving door approval.
This ethics mandate to recuse was communicated in detail to Mr. Cecil in a May 5, 2021 DEP memo titled “Ethics Requirements and Compliance For New Staff”
in addition to the requirement to recuse for one year from any official matter that involves any private sector individual or entity that employed or did business with you during the 1 year prior to your commencement of State service, a state official must also recuse from an official matter if he or she had involvement in that matter, other than on behalf of the State, prior to commencement of State service. Per SEC regulations, involvement in a matter includes having supervisory responsibility, providing input, submitting reports, signing contracts, having access to confidential information or being substantially and directly involved in decision-making with regard to the official matter. I’ve attached a sample recusal letter document for your use.
In his prior position and role at NJ Audubon as head of Corporate Stewardship Council and manager of NJ Audubon’s forestry program and projects – including forestry on DEP State land, subject to DEP regulatory oversight, and involving DEP funds and regulated activity by NJ Audubon, on top of other projects funded and/or conducted by members of the Corporate Stewardship Council and NJA financial donors – Mr. Cecil had “supervisory responsibility“, he “provided input”, he prepared and “submitted reports“, he oversaw “DEP contracts”, he “had access to confidential information” and he was “directly involved in decision-making with regard to official matters”.
Take a look at the corporate members of the Corporate Stewardship Council, all of whom are regulated by DEP, and some of the projects may involve public lands and/or regulatory mitigation.
As I wrote in an August 24, 2022 complaint to the State Ethics Commission, Mr. Cecil’s prior work at the NJ Audubon Society is directly related to his current work at the DEP and State Ethics law mandates that he recuse from DEP decisions involving his prior work. For details of that, see this post:
I assumed that my ethics complaint would trigger reconsideration of Mr. Cecil’s failure to recuse – by Mr. Cecil himself, by his boss DEP Commissioner LaTourette, by DEP’s Ethics Officer, by the State Ethics Commission, or even by the Gov.’s Office who approved Cecil’s hire and is thereby implicated in his revolving door ethics.
To test that assumption, last week I filed another OPRA public records request for Mr. Cecil’s recusal documents, literally the same OPRA request I originally submitted back in August.
DEP replied today, doubling down on their original ethics approval:
Please note that an Outside Activity Questionnaire was completed by John Cecil on June 3, 2021, and approved by Ray Bukowski on June 3, 2021, and it was approved by the NJDEP’s Ethics Liaison Officer on August 27, 2021.
Mr. Bukowski recently retired. Check out the background of Mr. Bukowski and see if you trust his judgement. He was involved in cutting a dirty enforcement deal in a NJ Audubon “partnership” project with Donald Trump!
Bukowski was involved in the Christie Administration’s dirty Trump enforcement deal and lied about it (see this ProPublica story):
In this case, the DEP did assess a fine: Despite five years of violations, just $294,000 — before cutting the amount in half, to $147,000 (plus $2,790 in interest), as part of the settlement. Bukowski asserts that Trump got no special treatment.
(the ProPublica investigative story documented that DEP Commissioner Martin was personally involved with the enforcement settlement – which deeply reduced DEP’s initially proposed fine – and spoke personally with Trump. By definition, this means Trump did receive “special treatment” and Bukowski lied about that.)
It is quite likely that Mr. Cecil supervised the Trump Audubon corporate “stewardship” project and was aware of trump’s violations of DEP permit regulations as well as acquainted with DEP’s Bukowski. You really can’t make this stuff up!
[Update: In another amazing example of corruption, my sources tell me that Bukowski had a gross conflict of interest while at DEP, as a fishing captain of a ship The Mushin: (source wrote:
Bukowski had a conflict of interest. He was a duck hunting and fishing guide — had a business. I complained to governor’s office as he oversaw DFW, the hunting agency…. One conflict of interest clearing another. This state is a cess pool. (here’s text from letter to Gov.’s Office and DEP – provided upon request):
“Mr. Bukowski’s business ventures and deep commercial and personal involvement in hunting and fishing –present, past, future– can reasonably be expected to impair objectivity and present the appearance of impropriety with regard to hunting and trapping policy, or policies that may diminish either, and, pointedly, the hunting and fishing regulatory agency he oversees.”
Regardless of being publicly called out in a complaint to the State Ethics Commission, Mr. Cecil still has not submitted any recusal documents, nor has he been required to do so by anyone with the responsibility and authority to enforce State ethics standards.
The Murphy DEP approved and now the entire Murphy Administration is defending the revolving door in an egregious case.
We’ll monitor how the Ethics Commission responds to the complaint I filed.
It will be a test of their independence and integrity.
I’m not optimistic.