Ethics Charges to be Prepared Against Scott Rumana

Assemblyman Scott Rumana (D-40) will have charges brought against him in connection with his attempt to appear before the Board of Public Utilities to advocate on behalf of a non-profit energy company he founded, a state ethics committee voted Tuesday. 

The Joint Legislative Commission on Ethical Standards voted 5-0, with one abstention, to prepare the charges, Politicker NJ reported Tuesday afternoon.

The charges will determine whether Rumana's alleged role in advocating for the Wayne Energy Corporation - in an effort to bring an energy plant to Wayne during his term as a state assemblyman - creates an appearance of impropriety. 

"As every single legislator who serves on a not-for-profit agency that gains money on the state budget and votes on the budget today could be brought up on ethics charges under the same appearance of impropriety standard," Rumana said Wednesday afternoon. "That is the clear and potentially chilling impact if the committee were to ultimately pursue the issue of brining charges."

Wayne resident William Brennan, who is running against Rumana in this year's general election, filed the initial charges.

“As far as I’m concerned, there’s no way he can get out of this,” Brennan told Patch Tuesday. “I think he should just step down.”

The allegation asks the question: Did Rumana’s alleged role in advocating for a renewable energy project in Wayne before state agencies, while serving as a state legislator, create an appearance of impropriety?

The commission Rumana of six other ethics violations in April. Brennan also filed those charges.

“Up to this point [the commission] has been operating under the facts as Brennan has created them,” Rumana told Politicker NJ. 

Rumana could be fined up to $10,000 if found guilty.