TRENTON, NEW JERSEY – Senator Declan O’Scanlon, Assemblywoman Victoria Flynn, and Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger are calling for an emergency legislative session and independent committee hearings following a scathing report on the treatment of Veterans in care homes by the New Jersey administration during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report, released yesterday by the United States Department of Justice and the United States District Attorney’s Office of New Jersey, details how the administration’s failures resulted in the suffering and deaths of over 7,900 Veterans.
O’Scanlon, Flynn, and Scharfenberger issued a joint statement: “The report’s conclusions are horrific. We owe it to the Veterans and their families to find recourse and impose consequences on those responsible. There must be accountability.”
The statement emphasized the urgency of bringing the New Jersey Legislature back into session to review the findings and seek justice for the affected Veterans and their families. They also called for immediate action, criticizing the administration for its “cavalier attitude” toward the report’s findings.
The legislators urged the enactment of stronger laws to prevent a similar tragedy in the future. They stressed that no individual should have unilateral control over the lives of citizens and called for immediate action, stating the state cannot afford to wait for reports from the State Attorney General.