(The Associated Press circulated the following story by Jeffrey Gold on October 17.)
NEWARK, N.J. — NJ Transit has fired two midlevel managers and disciplined 24 other managers following an ethics investigation that was prompted by the criminal prosecution of a vice president, the agency said Friday.
The actions conclude the probe, which found violations from fall 1995 to spring 2002, said George D. Warrington, executive director of NJ Transit, which operates the state’s commuter rail and bus lines.
He said the agency’s vendors and its more than 10,000 employees “know that we have no tolerance for ethics violations and that we have put in place education and control measures to ensure that these kinds of violations will not be repeated.”
The former vice president, Maureen A. Milan, pleaded guilty to a corruption charge last month, admitting that she demanded and received $1,600 worth of Broadway tickets from a vendor who had a contract with the agency.
Milan was fired as vice president and general manager of bus and light rail operations after she was indicted in February. She faces three to five years in prison when sentenced.
State prosecutors with the attorney general’s Office of Government Integrity accused her of accepting $17,000 worth of gifts, meals and sports and entertainment tickets from some of the agency’s vendors.
NJ Transit would not identify any of the 26 managers. The actions taken were administrative and are part of personnel records, and such records are not public, spokeswoman Lynn Bowersox said.
She described the two fired employees as midlevel managers who solicited and accepted gifts and meals from vendors. The agency did not disclose the value of the gifts and meals.
“We found no evidence that there was influence on business or contracts,” Bowersox said.
However, she said, “We have been in contact with Office of Government Integrity regarding these issues.”
A spokesman for the attorney general’s office, Chuck Davis, declined to comment on the NJ Transit matter.
The 24 other managers faced discipline for improperly accepting business meals, which ranged in value from several dollars to about $1,000, which constituted a number of meals, the agency said.
Their sanctions, in proportion to the value of the meals, ranged from verbal and written reprimands, up to a three-week unpaid suspension and salary freeze, the agency said.