Lawmakers heard from AshBritt President Randy Perkins during a contentious hearing where Democrats questioned why New Jersey accepted a contract with the firm for Hurricane Sandy cleanup while Republicans called it a political farce. Assemblyman Ruben Ramos, who chairs the Oversight and Gaming Committee, told NJ Today Managing Editor Mike Schneider that the hearing’s objective was to get questions answered about the deal.
Ramos said he anticipated that the hearing would draw criticism. “But at the end of the day we feel as the oversight committee it’s our job to basically ask these questions,” he said. “That’s what we’re here for. That’s what the people of New Jersey elected us to do. And try to make sure the New Jersey taxpayers are protected in this deal.”
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During the hearing, Sen. Joe Kyrillos interrupted Sen. Barbara Buono while she was asking questions with a point of order. Ramos said at times, Republicans acted inappropriately. “We all know Sen. Buono’s running for governor of the state of New Jersey against Gov. Christie but when everybody mentioned the administration, it was all praise and things like that,” Ramos said. “To try to call this a campaign rally instead of the committee hearing it was is totally inappropriate we believe.”
Ramos said he left the hearing with more questions than answers because Perkins said the contract was blessed by FEMA, but FEMA initiated a statement through The Star-Ledger saying representatives had no idea the deal was taking place.
“FEMA should come before us and say what exactly did they know about this contract going forward and what was in place there. Mr. Perkins made the presentation today that everything was hunky dory and this was blessed by FEMA but I think FEMA released a statement today saying the exact opposite,” Ramos said. “I don’t want to call anyone a liar, that’s a strong term because they said FEMA was in the room when this was taking place but I think there may be a conflict of who saw what and what was said when.”
Ramos said the whole goal of the hearing is to determine why New Jersey didn’t have its own contract in place. “Assemblyman [Jon] Bramnick brought up Joplin, brought up Katrina where there was no big contracts that were put out there. But emergency measures were put in place where you go out and negotiate the best bid. And that wasn’t put into place here by the administration,” Ramos said. “I think that brings some questions into play there and I think we have to bring FEMA in to try to clarify some of the statements or misrepresentations that were made today.”
Related: Committee Hears Testimony on AshBritt’s No-bid Contract For Sandy Clean-up