One of the Murphy Administration’s leading Covid critics has dissected the $9 million report prepared by Montgomery McCracken.
On Thursday, State Senator Joe Pennacchio (R-26) released his detailed review of the report which, in many respects, read like a whitewash of the administration’s abysmal record.
“Unfortunately, for the taxpayers,” Pennacchio explained, “even with its large girth of more than 900 pages, the cost of the report was not justified by its content. It is obvious to me that the report tried to do with size what it should have done with substance. With a history of the Covid outbreak and the report’s footnotes, both take up a considerable portion of the 900 plus page exercise. All in the report cost taxpayers more than $10,000 per page.”
“A disservice was done to the people of New Jersey by not assigning blame for some of New Jersey’s failed Covid policies. Most if any of the criticism was directed at the administration of the Menlo Park and Paramus Veterans’ nursing facilities. This no doubt could not be escaped because of two scathing reports on Covid policies and deaths in Veterans’ nursing homes done by the U.S. Department of Justice and the State’s Commission of Investigations,” added Senator Pennacchio of Morris County.
One of the report’s most concerning claims zeroed in upon by Pennacchio: 16,000 patients and staff dead in long term nursing facilities despite the fact that the official Department of Health dashboard reflects only 9,221.
“I encourage everyone to read and determine for themselves the scope and significance of the State’s actions during the Covid pandemic. Thousands of citizens including the 16,000 who died in nursing homes deserve that consideration,” Pennacchio continued.
Click here to review Pennacchio’s full report.
