Federal and State Criminal
Probes Sought on Wilson’s Firm Contracts:
Documents prove that no-bid deals for the firm
of State GOP Chairman produced no work for 5 years
while being paid $2.7 million
(Medford, NJ) – Today Richard
J. Perr, founder and President of the Burlington
County Taxpayers Association, a bi-partisan organization
that advocates tax and ethics reforms, called on
U.S. Attorney Chris Christie and New Jersey Attorney
General Peter Harvey to expand existing federal
and state criminal investigations into no-bid, no-show,
no-work contracts to include the $2.7 million paid
to New Jersey Republican Party Chairman Tom Wilson’s
firm from the Burlington County Bridge Commission.
Wilson’s firm, the Strategy Group, was named
in federal subpoenas in the ongoing probe of no-bid
contracts at UMDNJ, the state’s medical school
system, after the Star Ledger revealed that consultants
were being paid millions without any accountability
or work product at taxpayer expense. Today Perr
was handing over the documents he received to both
law enforcement agencies, while making them available
to the news media to allow everyone to draw their
own conclusions.
“I am asking U.S. Attorney
Chris Christie to examine these records and expand
his probe of UMDNJ to the Burlington County Bridge
Commission because the abuses are one and the same,”
said Perr. “Further, I am asking State Attorney
General Peter Harvey to expand his ongoing criminal
probe into no-show jobs for State Senator Martha
Bark (R-8) at the Burlington County Bridge Commission
and the Burlington County Institute of Technology,
to include the firms of Tom Wilson because it appears
from their own records that they were already doing
the questionable grant work that Bark was alleged
to be doing – while earning much more in lucrative
retainers.” Bark was paid $330,000 for work
at these public agencies that has yet to be documented.
Perr initiated a detailed OPRA
request (copies attached) several weeks ago to determine
the role and scope of Wilson’s firms, both
The Strategy Group and c3 Strategies, and to produce
copies of their work for the Burlington County Bridge
Commission, as well as another public entity. His
findings were startling because the evidence the
Commission presented showed only invoices being
paid between January 1997 and January 2002, without
a single email, memo, work product or service to
show for, despite earning millions in retainer fees.
Not until 2002 did the Bridge Commission ask for
quarterly reports from the Strategy Group, and even
those reports are suspect because it appears that
their work was lifted from simple Internet searches
– clearly nothing worth the roughly $50,000
a month figure they were taking in. Wilson’s
firms are no longer working for the Bridge Commission.
“Tom Wilson has been one
of the most outspoken critics of the pay-to-play
system and yet he has been in the middle of it all,
profiting at taxpayer expense likely under the eye
of political boss Glenn Paulsen, the former (and
continuing?) chairman of the Burlington County Republican
Party. Wilson’s actions represent hypocrisy
at its worst.”
“The taxpayers of Burlington
County and those who travel the toll bridges under
the control of the Burlington County Bridge Commission
have a right to know how their hard-earned money
is being wasted on no-bid, no-show, no-work sweetheart
deals for consummate insiders.”
Perr continued: “Today’s
Philadelphia Inquirer story on this matter includes
a quote from Bridge Commission spokesman Robert
Stears, claiming that there could be more records
somewhere in their archives. I made it clear what
I wanted. Originally the Commission tried to stonewall
me by asking me to pay for over 5,000 pages of irrelevant
documents, mainly meeting minutes and other contract
awards – none of which had anything to do
with The Strategy Group, c3 Strategies or Wilson
himself. After showing up at the Commission with
a member of the news media, we found what we were
looking for in the pile of worthless material they
tried to get me to pay for. In the end, all that
was relevant was 295 pages of invoices, contract
agreements and the limited questionable work these
firms did after 2002… Nothing whatsoever to
prove they did anything for the 5 years prior while
earning millions at our expense.”
“It is time for law enforcement
to protect the interests of the taxpayers when it
comes to unchecked, uncontrolled and possibly unlawful
spending by public agencies.”
###
June 22, 2005
VIA FACSIMILE ((856) 829-5205) and
REGULAR MAIL
Mr. George Nykita
Executive Director
Burlington County Bridge Commission
1300 Route 73 North, P.O. Box 6
Palmyra, NJ 08065
RE: Open Public Records Act Request
The Strategy Group, c3 Strategies and Tom Wilson
Dear Mr. Nykita:
I respectfully request the following
public information, pursuant to New Jersey’s
Open Public Records Act:
• Copies of all contracts
and invoices submitted by The Strategy Group, c3
Strategies or Tom Wilson from 1985 to the present;
• Copies of all documents
including, but not limited to, work product, memoranda,
emails, correspondence and/or reports from The Strategy
Group, c3 Strategies, Tom Wilson, or any other principal
or associate in those firms on behalf of those firms
from 1985 to the present;
• Copies of all documents
showing the amounts paid to The Strategy Group,
c3 Strategies or Tom Wilson from 1985 to the present;
• Copies of all documents
from 1985 to the present showing the role and function
that The Strategy Group, c3 Strategies or Tom Wilson
had with the Bridge Commission, including, but not
limited to, work product, minutes, reports and internal
evaluations;
• Copies of all documents
from 1985 to the present showing how contracts with
The Strategy Group, c3 Strategies or Tom Wilson
were awarded, including, but not limited to, minutes
of the Commission, correspondence with public advertising
sources, competitive bids submitted by other firms
for the work and internal memoranda.
I thank you in advance for your
cooperation. Please advise as to the amount due,
if any, for copies of these records. If you have
any questions, please call me at 609-417-9868.
Very truly yours,
Richard J. Perr
