MORRIS COUNTY — Noting a thick stack of requests from desperate constituents who still cannot access unemployment benefits, Assemblywoman Aura Dunn demanded that Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo redouble his efforts to fix a broken system.
“Real people in my district and across New Jersey are hurting from the commissioner’s continuing failures,” said Dunn (R-Morris). “To him, I say simply; do your job and end the unemployment backlog.”
Dunn revealed a letter she sent to Asaro-Angelo in early June that detailed the problems her constituents were experiencing with the unemployment insurance system since Gov. Murphy’s shutdown of the state’s business community in March. (Click here to read letter)
Despite the serious issues raised in the letter, no one from the department bothered to send a response to the Assemblywoman or her constituents. Instead, he turned to the administration’s image squad just less than a week later to promote to the media that nearly all of the claims are paid.
However, Dunn’s own office records show that nearly half of the constituents who have contacted her have still not been able to receive their earned benefits.
“I would challenge the press to come to my office and see what real people are going through, not just blindly accept the claims of the commissioner and his press guardians,” said Dunn.
“I think that the commissioner – and by extension, the governor – should spend a lot less time burnishing their public images and getting live shots on national television and focus on the jobs New Jerseyans need them to do.”
