Corruption

New Jersey lawmakers steered state money to employers, relatives and clients

Add-ons to the state budget have become an annual tradition for the Democrats who control the state Legislature.

By Daniel Han

Like many nonprofits across New Jersey, Rising Tide Capital was in need of state money.

The Jersey City-based organization, which trains aspiring entrepreneurs, operated at a deficit in recent years and faced dwindling reserves, according to tax records. But in the two most recent state budgets, it received a windfall: $2 million total in state grants.

The nonprofit had one of its own employees to thank for the funds.

Democratic state Sen. Angela McKnight, long a part-time employee of Rising Tide Capital, was the primary senator directing money to the nonprofit in the two most recent fiscal years, according to state budget records. The appropriations were added to the state budget just days before it passed the Legislature.

A POLITICO examination of similar last-minute spending additions tucked into New Jersey’s three most recent state budgets found McKnight’s case was not unique. One lawmaker requested state money for a nonprofit founded and run by his aunt — a grant worth roughly four times the organization’s annual revenue. And other lawmakers sent money to local governments where they’re on the payroll — or have financial ties. The appropriations raise questions in a state where political connections have long been a form of currency.

Add-ons to the state budget have become an annual tradition for the Democrats who control the state Legislature. These legislative priorities have become an early target for first-year Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a fellow Democrat, who said during her budget address earlier this year that she wants to end the “last-minute giveaways.” Sherrill’s push irked some Democratic lawmakers, who emphasized that many grants are for worthy causes.

Under the state Legislature’s ethics rules, lawmakers can steer taxpayer money to their employers as long as they do not believe they themselves — or an immediate family member — will face a “direct monetary gain or suffer a direct monetary loss” from their actions. Those same rules prohibit lawmakers from taking any action that “creates a justifiable impression” that the public trust is being violated.

Lawmakers in Trenton are considered part-time employees and nearly all of them have outside jobs — and enforcement over conflicts of interest are extremely rare. The chaotic, last-minute appropriations process — where hundreds of millions of dollars can be added to the budget in the dead of night — has fueled criticism that the public has too little time to scrutinize the spending plan.

“Even as a legislator, it’s hard to keep up with what’s going on,” former state Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, a Democrat, said of the process. “Certainly for the public it’s even harder until the budget is finally adopted and the press looks at it more closely and lets everyone know what’s actually in it.”

A lawmaker on payroll

The decision to send state money to Rising Tide Capital came at an opportune time for the nonprofit. In 2024, the most recent tax data available, the organization had $7.6 million in expenses but only $5.5 million in revenue — a $2 million loss.

Some of the state monies secured by McKnight went towards paying her nonprofit colleagues.

According to state grant agreements obtained by POLITICO, nearly $700,000 in state funds were set aside annually for the nonprofit’s personnel salaries and benefits. Those same records say that one of the “project objectives” of the state funding is to boost the nonprofit’s Community Business Academy — a program that teaches attendees the basics of business planning. The academy, according to the state documents, is taught by “experienced instructors.”

One of the academy’s instructors is McKnight herself, according to an online bio on her personal website. In 2024, she received between $10,000 and $25,000 in income from the nonprofit, although in 2025 she received less than $10,000 from the group, according to her legislative financial disclosure. Her part-time employment with the nonprofit was disclosed in budget records, which is required under the legislature’s rules.

McKnight has a long history with Rising Tide Capital, where she was an alum of its entrepreneur classes. And the nonprofit has been a recipient of the state’s largesse in the past: It received $250,000 in the FY2023 budget, although McKnight was not listed as an author of the request at the time, according to budget records.

Rising Tide Capital did not respond to multiple emails and a phone call seeking comment. McKnight did not respond to repeated requests for comment sent to her legislative email, personal email and cell phone. When approached in the halls of the statehouse by POLITICO, McKnight said she had “no comment” and walked away.

In the family

State law prohibits New Jersey lawmakers from hiring family members in their legislative offices.

However, New Jersey lawmakers can still direct state money to relatives.

Such was the case in 2024, when Democratic Assemblymember William Sampson requested $200,000 in the state budget to support a small nonprofit named the Mo’Hair Foundation. The nonprofit provides wigs to adults and children facing hair loss due to medical issues — and is also run by his aunt.

The nonprofit, even by its own telling, was modest before receiving state funds.

In a statement to POLITICO, Mo’hair Foundation Board of Directors spokesperson Bruce Alston said that it previously “operated on approximately $50,000 in annual revenue” — meaning the state funds were worth four times its previous annual revenue. Alston, however, said that the foundation only accepted approximately $167,000 of the $200,000 state grant. A spokesperson for the Department of Health, which oversaw the grant, confirmed that the nonprofit did not spend all of the funds it was allotted.

But the influx of funds meant that the nonprofit’s founder — Sampson’s aunt, Monique Smith-Andrews — could draw a salary for the first time since the nonprofit was created in 2008. According to a state grant agreement obtained by POLITICO, $89,380 was budgeted for salaries and benefits for the nonprofit.

The nonprofit’s board decided to compensate Smith-Andrews with $32,000 using the state funds, which Alston said Smith-Andrews had no input over.

“The Board concluded that the responsibilities associated with leading the organization had grown beyond what could reasonably be sustained on a volunteer basis,” Alston said in a statement. “In addition to overseeing the Foundation’s operations, Ms. Smith-Andrews regularly meets with patients and families, coordinates consultations, works with healthcare providers and community partners, and helps ensure that individuals undergoing treatment receive support and services.”

In a statement to POLITICO, Sampson’s chief of staff noted that the familial relationship was publicly disclosed in budget documents. The lawmaker does not manage the foundation or set salaries, Sampson’s chief of staff, Michele Iacono, said.

“The funding allowed the Foundation to expand its reach and strengthen relationships with cancer treatment providers and healthcare institutions throughout New Jersey,” Iacono said. “Cancer touched the Assemblyman’s family personally. He is proud to support an organization created in memory of his grandmother and dedicated to helping others facing similar challenges in New Jersey.”

Public servants with public jobs

Many state lawmakers are also local public-sector employees — some of whom direct state money to their public sector employers and clients. According to a review of financial disclosures for 2025, the most recent year available, at least 50 of 120 state lawmakers worked for the public sector in some capacity outside their legislative jobs.

Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin — who has significant sway over shaping the budget as his chamber’s presiding officer — is the co-founder of a law firm that has an extensive roster of public-sector clients. That roster has grown since Coughlin became speaker.

In the last three state budgets, Coughlin directed a total of $16.7 million to the Essex County government for park and golf course improvements — well outside Coughlin’s Central Jersey legislative district. According to public records, Essex County is also a client of Coughlin’s law firm, paying over $87,000 for legal services from 2023 to 2025.

Coughlin, through a spokesperson, declined to comment.

One of the grants directed to Essex County — $9 million to a county-owned golf course — was also requested by Democratic state Sen. Renee Burgess. At the time, Burgess had been recently appointed to a county job leading the Office of Small Business Development. Burgess’s directing money to Essex County predates her employment there, according to budget records and the $9 million golf course improvements are within her legislative district. She did not respond to a request for comment.

Anthony Puglisi, a spokesperson for Essex County government, said the county requested the park appropriations to then-Gov. Phil Murphy — not the two lawmakers. Budget records, however, show the two lawmakers were the primary requestors of the appropriation.

Coughlin and Burgess did not disclose the financial relationship with the county in their budget requests — despite legislative rules requiring lawmakers to disclose business or employment relationships to entities for which they seek funding.

A spokesperson for Murphy declined to comment.

Burgess wasn’t alone in steering state funds to a local government where she collected a paycheck.

Longtime state Assemblymember Annette Quijano successfully requested $9 million for the City of Elizabeth to replace water pipes in the last three state budgets. She is also a municipal prosecutor for the city and must be reappointed and confirmed annually by the mayor and city council, according to the city’s code.

According to salary information obtained by POLITICO, Quijano’s city pay in 2025 was $69,500. It is her only major source of income outside her legislative job, according to her financial disclosures.

The state funds are to replace lead water pipes in the city — a project that has also secured federal funding. New Jersey law requires all lead water pipes in the state to eventually be removed by 2031, a cost that could otherwise fall on the City of Elizabeth.

Quijano, through a spokesperson, declined to comment. The City of Elizabeth did not respond to a press inquiry. Quijano disclosed her employment relationship with the city in only one of her budget requests.

In 2023, GOP state Sen. Vince Polistina faced criticism from Democrats after he authored a budget request to send $250,000 to Egg Harbor Township, a town in his district. The town’s planning board was a client of Polistina’s engineering firm at the time.

Polistina initially did not disclose the business relationship, and at the time, his office denied any conflict of interest. Polistina, who later disclosed the relationship in budget records, declined to comment.

That wasn’t enough for a key member of the South Jersey Democratic machine, who wrote a letter asking state and federal prosecutors to investigate Polistina. Nothing ever came of the request.

How conflicts of interest are policed

The New Jersey state budget has long been a subject of scrutiny for good government groups — and even the downfall of some politicians. Former state Sen. Wayne Bryant, who chaired the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, was sentenced to prison in 2009 after being found guilty in a bribery scheme where he steered millions of dollars to a publicly-owned medical school, which employed him with a low-show job.

The Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards, a bipartisan committee made up of political appointees, enforces conflict of interest laws for state lawmakers. Lawmakers can face a fine up to $10,000 if they violate the law and any decision to remove or discipline a lawmaker must have the committee’s approval.

In practice, the committee rarely — if ever — aggressively enforces the law, and is not known for having a strong track record. The committee dismissed an investigation into Democratic former state Sen. Joseph Coniglio, who was eventually sentenced to prison in 2009 in a corruption scheme where he received a lucrative consulting job from a local hospital in exchange for securing state funds. It was later revealed that Coniglio withheld key evidence from the ethics committee. An official on the committee did not respond to a request for comment.

Conflicts of interest could escalate into criminal corruption if a public official receives something of value with the intent to influence the official’s official acts. But federal corruption laws have been significantly weakened by the U.S. Supreme Court in recent years.

Traditionally, the requests for last-minute spending additions are submitted and approved for Democratic lawmakers, who have majorities in the statehouse in Trenton. Documents known as budget resolutions — which detail which lawmakers made the request and if they have a personal connection to the recipient of funds – are usually not made public until months after the budget is passed. And hundreds of millions of dollars in new spending are approved within a matter of days, with some budget observers saying the chaotic process is to the detriment of public participation.

“Even if these are legitimate and worthy expenditures in the state budget, the non-transparent process that cuts out the public is going to raise questions about whether there are conflicts that helped drive [them],” said Peter Chen, a budget analyst at New Jersey Policy Perspective, a left-leaning think tank that has called for reforming the state budget process. “And that’s going to occur with a lot of the budget resolutions that are out there.”

The state’s upcoming budget is due by the end of the month. It’s expected to once again include last-minute additions from lawmakers, despite the governor’s push to end the practice. And if recent history is any guide, the public won’t see who requested them until well into summer.

Sherrill has announced a framework budget deal with legislative leaders — which GOP state lawmakers have slammed as being “negotiated behind closed doors.” Details of the proposal are not public yet. A Sherrill spokesperson declined to comment for this story.

The governor told reporters on Wednesday that specifics of the add-ons from lawmakers are still being worked out.

“I mean, many times legislators know their districts best,” she said. “And so there were areas that they really felt like they needed to engage on.”