CJ Griffin Says, "The Public Has a Right to Transparency. The Public Has a Right to See How Much We are Spending."
CJ Griffin a member of Pashman Stein Walder Hayden’s Litigation Group and Practice Group Leader for the Firm’s Media Law Practice was extensively quoted in the Law.com article, “NJ Suit Seeks to Unmask Newark's Proposal to Amazon for 'HQ2'.” The article reports on the request of Steven Wronko to obtain documents relating to Newark's attempts to woo Amazon.
C.J. Griffin of Pashman Stein Walder Hayden in Hackensack, who represents Wronko, said public disclosure of Newark’s application would not hurt the city’s chances of winning the competition.
“The public has a right to transparency. The public has a right to see how much we are spending to get it. This level of secrecy isn’t needed,” Griffin said.
The suit disputes Newark’s assertion that public disclosure of the application would give other cities a competitive advantage. The suit seeks release after redaction of any aspects of the application that the court determines to be sensitive.
But Griffin said any such information about terms offered to Amazon could be redacted from the city’s application before its release. Griffin added that, in the applications from other cities that she reviewed, most of the information is publicly available data about things like local colleges and transportation access.
To read the article, please click here.