by Patricia Alex, Staff Writer, The Record
Lawmakers want an accounting of what one of the state’s public colleges has spent in its imperiled quest to turn a casino-hotel in Atlantic City into a campus.
The chair of the state Senate’s budget committee on Thursday sent a letter to Stockton University President Herman Saatkamp asking him to appear before the panel next week to answer questions about the rushed purchase of the Showboat hotel and casino.
Stockton spent $18 million on the Mardis Gras-themed Boardwalk property in December and may be on the hook for millions more in carrying costs since a neighboring casino has refused to waive a restrictive covenant that requires the site to remain a casino.
The snag has many questioning whether Saatkamp and the school properly vetted the deal, and the president this week announced he will resign at the end of the summer.
“I had called this proposal bizarre from the beginning, and now that it has collapsed there are a lot of questions,” said Sen. Paul Sarlo, the budget chair. “Clearly what has developed over the last three months is beyond bizarre.”
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