“Not later than September 3, 2007, Defendant shall file and serve upon Plaintiff and Interveners an affidavit or certification by a person(s) competent to testify as to the search for documents responsive to Plaintiff’s OPRA request and shall describe in detail the steps taken to locate responsive documents including all persons contacted regarding the search.”
--Order of the Honorable Paul Innes Denying Motion to Dismiss and Requiring Defendant to Submit Documents for In Camera Review, August 21, 2007, Docket No. L-1297-07
Trenton, NJ -- New Jersey Republican State Committee Chairman Tom Wilson issued the following statement today:
“Late yesterday afternoon Judge Paul Innes schedule a hearing on our motion to compel ordering everyone to appear before him in open court on October 5 to resolve the question of whether or not Governor Corzine has fully complied with his previous order to fully detail the steps taken to identify and turn over all communications covered by my initial OPRA request. It is our position that he did not comply. Their description of the steps they took indicates that at best, their search was perfunctory. Their failure to do more than ask a few people if they had anything that would comply falls disturbingly short of the effort that Judge Innes’ order required. Amazingly, their response indicates that no one even asked the Governor himself about the existence of any communications between he and Carla Katz.
Particularly troubling is their response to the order as it relates to the secret email server used by Jon Corzine, Tom Shea, and who knows who else. Since his use of a secret email account to conduct state business was exposed, Jon Corzine has refused to provide any information about it. He won’t say who has accounts, who determines who gets an account, what guidelines are in place spelling out when it should and shouldn’t be used, or what steps are taken to ensure that any email that discusses state business are preserved. These aren’t difficult questions and if everything is on the up and up, then why doesn’t Jon Corzine practice the transparency he preaches and lay out how this secret email server works?
Without knowing the specific steps taken to look for communications between Corzine and Katz, we can’t know that Judge Innes was provided with everything he required under his order. The Judge has given Jon Corzine several opportunities to end his stonewalling. Instead of providing transparency, he’s continued to engage in cover-up. If Jon Corzine has nothing to hide, then why is he doing everything he can to keep secret his back channel communications with Carla Katz?”
--Press release from NJGOP
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