Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey • Page 3

Asbury Park PressFriday. October 4, 1 985 A3 Mew Jersey Panel votes to subpoena witness in computer probe It has also delayed the issuance of thousands of drivers licenses and registrations. Price Waterhouse has accepted responsibility for correcting the system, which may take up to a year. Kline said the process of events that resulted in the installation of the equipment was "a bad business judgment" In the meantime, the state is withholding $1.4 million in payments due the company. Under the contract, the state also has the option of penalizing the firm $50,000 a month until the system is operational.

Those penalties, which could have been phased in starting in July, have not been levied because, Kline said, the primary goal is to get the system working. Once the system is working, the state also can try to collect for damages, including $160,000 a month in overtime costs being created by the errant system. Price Waterhouse was awarded the contract for the work without the state consulting other potential firms or submitting the contract to public bids. Kline testified the proper bid waiver procedure was followed in awarding the contract It was decided not to solicit bids because of the need to get the system installed as quickly as possible to implement new motor vehicle insurance laws, he said. Assemblyman Bocchini has said the procedure allowing bid waivers for large contracts may need to be changed.

Within less than a month after the firm received the bid waiver in July 1983, Price Waterhouse donated $15,000 to the Governor's Ball, a Republican fund-raising event The donation was followed by another $15,000 in 1984 and $6,000 this year, even though the company previously had had a policy of not contributing to political parties in New Jersey. Gov. Kean has said there is nothing improper in the firm making contributions and that he knows of no undue pressure to contribute being put on people doing business with the state. When asked about an earlier situation in which a lucrative contract for issuing photo licenses was given to a prominent Republican campaign contributor, Kline said the cases "were totally different." The contract given to William Taggart for the photo licenses was eventually canceled because Taggart's involvement initially was not revealed by the division. the state Republican Party.

But Driscoll refused to continue his testimony yesterday. Matthew P. Boylan, a lawyer representing Price Waterhouse, informed the committee by letter 25 minutes before the hearing was to begin that he had advised all company officials not to attend. Boylan said he advised company officials not to testify because of disagreements between Price Waterhouse and Applied Data Resources of Princeton, the manufacturers of the language used to program the DMV computer system. The disagreements concerned whether Applied Data informed anyone in advance that the computer language would not work for the DMV.

Kline told the committee no one in the division knew until the entire computer system was in place in July that it would not work. The IDEAL language is "grossly inadequate" for the job required by the division, First Assistant Attorney General Michael R. Cole said in a letter to Price Waterhouse. The system cannot support as many terminals as necessary and has a slow response time, which has resulted in a backlog of 1.4 million DMV transactions that have not been entered into the system, By KAREN DE MASTERS Press State House Bureau TRENTON An angry Assembly committee has voted unanimously to subpoena a Price Waterhouse officer to testify about the deficient computer system the company installed for the state Division of Motor Vehicles. At the same time, DMV Acting Director Robert S.

Kline testified yesterday the division was not told until it was too late that the computer system being installed could not handle the volume of work generated by motor vehicle transactions. Assemblyman Joseph Bocchini D-Mercer, chairman of the Assembly Law, Public Safety and Defense Committee, said Price Waterhouse's refusal to appear at a committee hearing yesterday was "disgraceful. The hearing was the second held by the committee to investigate the DMV computer system foul-ups and Price Waterhouse's contributions to the Republican Party. William J. Driscoll, a partner in the Price Waterhouse firm, told the committee last week there was no connection between the company receiving the $6.5 million contract to install the computer system and the subsequent donations of $36,000 to r-.

rK- "0 N. AtsocwM Prast State Attorney General Irwin Kimmelman observes Assembly panel vote to subpoena witness during hearing in Trenton yesterday. GOP chief says he gave out free tickets ByCOLEEN DEE BERRY Press Staff Writer I TRENTON While a state ethics commission prepares to discuss whether it should investigate how tickets to the Governor's Ball were distributed, the state Republican chairman maintains officials received the complimentary tickets as part of a random pool. Three top-ranking state officials have denied they received complimentary tickets to the $500-a-plate affair mum tuipuiauuus uiai nave muiu-million dollar contracts with the state. Insurance Pnmmiwinnpr Ha7pl The BEST of Taste! Van's has established itself among knowledgeable restaurant goers as the home of superior quality food and service.

Van's has created and perfected over 200 dishes in the last 5 years alone! Now as we create and perfect the ambience and elegance you expect in a fine restaurant, we invite you to sample our famous cuisine at this special time. During remodeling, order any item from our extensive ala carte menu and receive the complete dinner at no additional charge. will be other delightful surprises to enhance the new FLAVOR of Van's. originally purchased by Price Water-house and then provided to Kline by the GOP state committee in 1984. At that ball last year, Kline was seated at a table with corporate officers of Price Waterhouse, the company that installed the admittedly-inadequate DMV computer system.

The company was awarded the $6.5 million contract in 1983 without competitive bidding. The system has now caused so many problems for DMV that the Assembly committee is investigating the situation. Asked whether he considered it inappropriate to sit with corporate officers of a firm that had received a large no-bid contract, Kline said, "No. The bid waiver was obtained before the governor's ball. "I didn't solicit any money (from Price Waterhouse) and I sat where I was assigned," he added.

The ball tickets did not have any bearing on his dealings with the company, Kline said. The complimentary tickets were offered to him through the state committee, he said, and the state committee decided the seating arrangement at the dinner. "Vendors who deal with the state often participate in "political fund-raisers," Kline added. "It's perfectly legal and above board." Press Staff Writer Karen De-Masters also contributed to this story. ally will attend.

They return the four other tickets to us, and we put them into a pool," Holman said. Complimentary tickets for most state employees are drawn from this pool, he said. "This year we distributed about 300 complimentary tickets," Holman said. It is entirely probable that state officials receive complimentary tickets that were originally paid for by corporations, Holman said, "but it's not as though the company hands the official the ticket and says, 'Here, this is for It's drawn randomly." Vassallo has denied he received his tickets directly from the Beer Wholesalers' Association. He said he checked with the association, and members had used all the 10 tickets originally purchased for the event.

"They couldn't have possible bought my ticket because they used every one they bought for their own people," Vassallo said. Yesterday Kline, who did not attend this year's ball, told an state Assembly committee yesterday that it is "absolutely ludicrous" to think his sitting with Price Waterhouse officers at the 1984 governor's ball had any affect on his dealings with the company, i In testimony before the Assembly Law, Public Safety and Defense Committee, Kline said he had four complimentary ball tickets apparently Gluck, Alcohol Beverage Control Commission Director John F. Vassallo and acting Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles Robert Klein have all vigorously denied allegations they received their complimentary tickets to the Governor's Ball courtesy of three different businesses. The allegations have attracted the attention of the state Executive Commission on Ethical Standards, which will discuss the issue at its Oct 16 meeting, according to acting commission director Dorothy Donnelly. "It will be on the agenda, and at the time we will make a decision whether or not the information we have before us warrants an investigation," Ms.

Donnelly said yesterday. There are state guidelines prohibiting state employees from accepting gratuities that could be construed as influencing them in their job, Ms. Donnelly said. But regulations on such political fund-raisers as the Governor's Ball may be lacking, or may not extend to complementary tickets, according to Ms. Donnelly.

"We have guidelines against accepting gifts and against accepting certain travel arrangements when on state business," Ms. Donnelly said. "Perhaps once we have all the facts, what may be required in this case is that we draft another specific guideline." Despite its namesake, the money raised by the Governor's Ball does not go to the top state official, but instead benefits the governor's political party. Frank Holman, the state Republican committee chairman, stressed ticket procedures for this year's ball did not differ from past practices in Gov. Kean's administration.

All state commissioners received their complimentary tickets directly from his office, Holman said. "So I can say with certainty that Commissioner Hazel Gluck did not get her tickets from anyone but myself," Holman said. Allegations were made that Ms. Gluck had received her tickets from G-Tech, the company that holds the multi-million dollar contract for the state's lottery computer system. Complimentary tickets for both ABC Director Vassallo and DMV acting Director Kline were drawn from a pool of about 300 complimentary tickets, comprised of tickets returned by corporations and individuals, according to Holman.

"Let's say a company in June buys six tickets, and then a few weeks before the ball, only two people actu Missing Now Appearing KEN HELMAN at the keyboard Friday Saturday Evenings Nam Jeffrey A. Jones June 1972 nr fuel oil I m. Cast rUILuuu May 1984 from WarrensviBe, Ohto 25,50.75,100 UBI. IW. I BMV (CLOSED MONDAY DURMQ REMODEUNQ) Offer good from 6p.m.and Sun.

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