The Democratic Senate leader in New Jersey plans to halt his effort to weaken a government watchdog after opponents criticized the proposal during a raucous public hearing last week.
Nicholas Scutari, the president of the State Senate, said he would shelve legislation he had introduced two weeks ago that would have blocked the state comptroller from subpoenaing records to conduct investigations. The change, Mr. Scutari had argued, would have enabled the state to bolster the Commission of Investigation, a far less active watchdog agency.
“I’ve heard the concerns, and I’m going to listen to them,” Mr. Scutari told The New Jersey Globe on Tuesday, adding, “I’m not going to move forward with the bill right now.”
He said he would revisit elements of the bill during the next legislative session, which starts in a month, just before the state’s next governor, Mikie Sherrill, takes office. Mr. Scutari could not be immediately reached for comment about his decision.
His announcement came after news coverage highlighted the effort to defang an independent watchdog who has taken on some of New Jersey’s most powerful politicians and as support for the bill within his own legislative caucus was fading. The comptroller’s office has for five years been led by Kevin Walsh, a former civil rights lawyer who has aggressively investigated fiscal misconduct by state leaders, scrutinized government contracts and exposed Medicaid fraud.
A vast majority of the speakers at the nearly five-hour Senate committee hearing last Monday said they were concerned that the bill would allow corruption to flourish in a state already infamous for political wrongdoing.
Mr. Walsh, on social media, attributed the decision to halt the legislation to outspoken opponents who had “showed up to fight for government oversight, transparency and accountability!”
“The Scutari bill would have hurt the entire office if it went into effect, because it would have undermined our ability to conduct investigations,” Mr. Walsh said Wednesday during a news conference on an unrelated matter.
The hearing drew widespread media attention in part because of the way one of the bill’s most prominent opponents — U.S. Senator Andy Kim — was treated at the hearing.
Mr. Kim, a Democrat who replaced former Senator Robert Menendez after he was convicted of taking bribes, was made to wait hours to testify against the bill, even though he had been among the first people to sign up to speak and after other speakers had attempted to cede their time to him. The Democratic chairman of the committee, Senator James Beach, refused their offers to swap time with Mr. Kim, who was trying to catch a train to get to Washington in time to vote on bills.
“It’s an embarrassment,” Maura Collinsgru, a policy director at New Jersey Citizen Action, said after she tried, unsuccessfully, to give her speaking time to Mr. Kim. “I am embarrassed on behalf of our state.”
To be enacted, the legislation would have needed approval from the Democrat-led Assembly and Senate and from the outgoing governor, Philip D. Murphy. Mr. Scutari had placed the bill on the fast track for approval, suggesting that it was destined to be part of the political horse trading that frequently takes place in the final days of a two-year legislative session.
But, as first reported by Politico New Jersey, powerful leaders within the Democratic Party had begun to weigh in publicly against the proposal, making it unclear if Mr. Scutari would have had enough support to even advance the legislation in the State Senate.
LeRoy J. Jones Jr., the chairman of the Democratic Party in New Jersey, said in an interview on Wednesday that he had told Mr. Scutari that the bill was a “total overreach” and “not the most prudent thing to do at this point in time, with a new governor coming in.”
“He acted responsibly, considered the input he got from me — and perhaps others,” Mr. Jones said of Mr. Scutari’s decision.
Mr. Murphy’s office had not taken a public position on the legislation. But Ms. Sherrill released a statement on Tuesday that appeared to celebrate its demise.
“I ran on accountability and transparency and was clear that I would not support any effort to weaken oversight,” she said. “I look forward to working with the Legislature to deliver effective, accountable government for the people of New Jersey on the mandate they gave us.”
Tracey Tully is a reporter for The Times who covers New Jersey, where she has lived for more than 20 years.
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