SANDY’S
DEVASTATION
area, you get to build whatever
you want.”
Ragonese, the DEP spokesman,
said the agency’s experts on the
matter were too busy responding
to Hurricane Sandy to comment
on development and regulatory
questions affecting the shoreline.
Real estate interests are a powerful lobby in New Jersey, particularly along the coast, according to
a review of state campaign finance
and lobbying data.
Some of the largest developers include national giants such
as Pulte Homes and K. Hovnanian Homes, which is based in
Red Bank, N.J. Officials from both
companies did not respond to requests seeking comment. The New
Jersey Association of Realtors also
declined to comment, writing in
a statement: “This is not the time
to debate development that has
occurred in the past.”
Commercial and residential
real estate interests donated more
than $250,000 to Christie’s gubernatorial campaign in 2009,
the third-largest interest group
behind lawyers and securities and
investment groups, according to
campaign finance data analyzed by
the Sunlight Foundation.
Corzine received more than
HUFFINGTON
12.02.12
$230,000 in contributions from
real estate interests, second only
to the legal services industry, from
2005 through 2009.
The New Jersey Builders Association often ranks among the
top ten groups in lobbying spending among special interests in
the state. The Builders Association did not respond to questions
about political spending.
The group’s director of government affairs, Jeff Kolakowski,
wrote in an email that members
were “focused on supporting the
recovery efforts.” He characterized New Jersey as “one of the
most highly regulated states when
it comes to development activity,” and said the group “supports
adherence to these laws and regulations, which safeguard our environment and require that development occurs in the appropriate
areas of our state.”
A past environmental affairs official for the builders association,
Nancy Wittenberg, was appointed
as New Jersey’s assistant commissioner of climate and environmental compliance during the Corzine
administration, a move criticized
by some environmental groups.
Wittenberg, who is now executive
director of the New Jersey Pinelands Commission, disagreed with
those criticisms, saying her past
experience as a regulator and in-