An independent review launched last month by Gov. Phil Murphy into how well his administration handled the COVID-19 pandemic will cost taxpayers more than $400 an hour, according to a contract obtained by NorthJersey.com.
That bid is for lawyers only at Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads, a New York firm that Murphy announced last month would conduct an audit in conjunction with a second firm, the Boston Consulting Group. It is not known how much the administration will pay Boston Consulting Group because the contract is “not yet available,” according to the custodian of the records.
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It is not yet known what role and responsibilities each firm will have. Christy Peace, a spokeswoman for Murphy, said last month that the suppliers would “work together to conduct a review.”
For more than two years, Murphy has repeatedly promised a “post-mortem” and “full accounting” of how his administration handled the pandemic.
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While health officials have praised Murphy for moving quickly to close businesses, schools, public transportation and other segments of the community during the height of the outbreak, he has also been criticized for a number of issues, including whether the Department of Health forced nursing homes to too soon to remove COVID residents from hospitals.
said Murphy the review will be conducted by Pavel Zubek of Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads. Zubek was the first assistant attorney general during the Republican administrations. Christy Whitman and Donald DiFrancesco.
The review was supposed to start last month. A report is not expected until late 2023, Murphy said.
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The Nov. 16 storage agreement was obtained by NorthJersey.com through a public records request. The agreement calls for a rate of $400 for both partners and associates and $90 for paralegals.
Murphy did not elaborate on what topics the review might cover, but said it would look at the state’s pandemic preparedness along with policy decisions, particularly those affecting “vulnerable residents.”
Mir said state officials, including Murphy, will be available for interviews to be conducted by the reviewers.
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The latest major independent audit by New Jersey’s governor raised millions of dollars in attorneys’ fees.
The infamous Bridgegate review, commissioned by former Gov. Chris Christie to examine his administration’s role in Bridgegate, the plot to close lanes of the George Washington Bridge in retaliation for Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich’s failure to support the governor on re-election. Over the course of five mornings in September 2013, he killed Fort Lee.
The law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, led by attorney Randy Mastro, billed the state for more than $8.2 million and produced a report that was so heavily criticized for conflicts of interest and lack of detail that a federal judge called it a prime example of ” opacities and gamesmanship.” The attorneys’ rate for the investigation was $350 an hour.
