CJ Griffin Quoted in WHYY on Recent Bill Seeking to allow State Elected Officials to Shield their Addresses from the Public
CJ Griffin, Director of the Justice Gary S. Stein Public Interest Center at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, was quoted in a WHYY article, “N.J. lawmakers move to redact addresses for elected officials from the public record.” The article discusses the possibility that a bill will be approved that would only require local and state government officials to disclose the town and county where they own property.
“New Jersey has a long history of being notorious for corruption. And so this is a step back from transparency because now, it makes it much more difficult to know what land transactions our political officials are engaging in,” Griffin said. “And so you can’t track them, who’s transferring property to them, or who they’re transferring property to.”
“Instead of scaling back ethics laws that require disclosure, [lawmakers] need to be thinking about how they can be more transparent, how they can be more ethical, how they can rebuild the public’s trust because that lack of trust is what helps fan the flames of hostility and hatred towards the government,” Griffin said.
To view the article, click here