Former UMDNJ administrator John Crosbie was a cooperating witness given immunity in former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie’s prosecution of Camden County state Sen. Wayne Bryant.
Years later, Crosbie was hired for six-figures at the Department of Health and Senior Services under Gov. Chris Christie, before resigning his post last week.
State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) wants to know what of it, so she filed a bunch of OPRA requests yesterday regarding the situation.
“Given Mr. Crosbie’s past missteps to help cover up Senator Bryant’s low-show job at UMDNJ, I think the questions about his employment demand answers,” she said in a release.
Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak did not address the Crosbie situation in an email response, only saying, “As with all other OPRA applications, this one will be addressed as provided by law.”
Crosbie was a top administrator at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) in 2008 when the U.S. Attorney’s office offered him immunity for testifying in the corruption case against Bryant and former UMDNJ dean Michael Gallagher. Bryant and Gallagher were both found guilty of conspiring to inflate Bryant’s salary and pension credits for a low-show job.
Last July, Crosbie was hired by the DHSS as the $110,000-per-year executive director of three state commissions studying brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and autism.
Weinberg alleged that widespread knowledge of his past and present situations led to his resignation last week, but a DHSS spokesperson was not readily available to answer questions.
“The entire handling of this situation leaves far too many unanswered questions,” said Weinberg. “We don’t know who was responsible for hiring John Crosbie, whether or not they knew of his past dealings with the U.S. Attorney’s office, or what his exact job responsibilities were within the Department of Health.”
Weinberg noted Crosbie’s “past transgressions on behalf of Senator Bryant – whether he was prosecuted or not” and the lack of critical vetting by an administration that allowed him to oversee state grants and taxpayer dollars.
“I don’t begrudge Mr. Crosbie for trying to earn a living, but after he played a significant role in bilking the taxpayers through Senator Bryant’s low-show employment scam, he should have been prohibited from working with taxpayers’ money ever again,” Weinberg said. “We need to examine the records regarding his work product and grant information to make sure that he wasn’t once again playing fast and loose with the taxpayers’ trust. We also need to understand the breakdown in oversight that allowed an admitted participant in a scheme to defraud the State’s taxpayers to earn a six-figure public salary, and make sure that we’re a little more careful in the future about who we hire to high-paying state jobs.”
In her OPRA requests to the Department of Health, the N.J. Commission on Brain Injury Research, the N.J. Commission on Spinal Cord Research, and the Governor’s Council for the Medical Research and Treatment of Autism, Weinberg requested a wide variety of information including: information pertaining to Crosbie’s hiring, his resignation, job responsibilities and work product, correspondence, and a list of grants and appropriations handled under his tenure.