NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR CONDEMNS ART COUNCIL

Peggy McGlone reports for The Star-Ledger_ that the New Jersey Arts Council has become an annoyance to Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno, and though it is part of the office of Secretary of State––her own department––she has launched a public campaign to get more authority over it. Guadagno recently appeared before the Senate Budget Committee and made allegations of fraud, spoke of a criminal investigation, and confirmed that she had reprimanded members of her own staff for their roles in a series of problematic contracts for public art projects entered into by the arts council staff.

McGlone argues that for the past forty-five years the arts council has had powers beyond its size in two areas: the hiring of its executive director and the distribution of state and federal tax dollars to arts organizations through its competitive grants process.

David Miller, former executive director of the arts council, said the legislature has always protected the council from political influence over arts funding decisions. “I believe they gave the council authority to hire its director to insulate the post from political cronyism,” said Miller, former executive director of the arts council. “The legislative intent was to keep it and council grants as far removed as was possible from political influence.”