Here's something else I guess "Governor Soprano" didn't know about
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The Christie administration has fired the contractor in charge of handing out Sandy relief money for the state -- without announcing it to the public
First, the good news: The Christie administration has fired the contractor that's been bungling the distribution of federal Hurricane Sandy relief money.
This Louisiana firm, called Hammerman and Gainer (HGI), got lambasted by Sandy victims at several legislative hearings...It's been faulted for unreturned phone calls and delays in getting people back into their homes -- not just in New Jersey but in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
But now here's the bad news: The administration fired HGI last month, and we are all just finding out about this now...
Richard Constable, who oversees the state's rebuilding programs...(is) in charge of these grant programs that HGI was screwing up. Did he not think it necessary to mention this firing when he defended the administration against its critics?...Could this be because the state is now trying to remedy HGI's mistakes?
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Richard Constable also just happens to be the other Christie appointee who allegedly told the mayor of Hoboken that she'd get no Sandy funding if she didn't approve her city's land development project!
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Company Also Made Donation to Group Run by Christie
Christie officials - who as recently as two weeks ago gave legislators in Trenton no hint that the contract had been cancelled - wouldn't say on Thursday why the deal with Hammerman and Gainer, or HGI, was terminated more than two years before completion. Last week, Gov. Christie touted the successes of the Sandy recovery at an event on the Jersey Shore.
HGI won its contract last May shortly after its New Jersey law firm, Capehart, made a $25,000 donation to the Republican Governors Association, which is now headed by Christie. The RGA contributed $1.7 million to Christie's re-election campaign.
The state was to pay HGI $68 million in fees to administer a $780 million Sandy program. But the Christie administration terminated that contract in December, and the termination took effect - unannounced - on Monday. Documents posted on a state website say the company was to be paid $10.5 million as an "unpaid balance" — and for work performing during a "transition period" following termination...
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By the way, Christie vetoed an effort to
add an extra level of accountability to the fund disbursements, claiming it was an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy!