Senator Bill Baroni (R-14 Mercer, Middlesex) is calling on Governor Corzine to sign an executive order that would end some of the worst pension padding practices in New Jersey.
“The Governor can immediately and unilaterally end some of the worst pension padding abuse in the state with a single stroke of his pen,” said Baroni. “There are hundreds of politically connected individuals who sit on various state licensing boards and commissions, attend infrequent meetings, and receive full time pension credit, as if they were full time employees.”
In New Jersey, individuals need to earn $1, 500 a year to be eligible for a year of pension credit, provided they were hired prior to recent pension reforms. This is the same time credit that rank and file state employees receive who work full time.
“Governor Corzine can end this pension abuse by simply issuing an executive order,” continued Baroni.
An executive order could direct the Attorney General, Anne Milgram, to reduce paid per-diem expenditures to professional licensing boards in accordance with the authority she has been granted pursuant to NJSA 45:1-2.5. Compensation would be set for these boards at a level that is low enough and meetings infrequent enough that cumulative payments throughout the year would not exceed the $1, 500 needed to earn pension credit.
“Millions of dollars can be saved by ending this abuse of the pension system,” Baroni added. “I want to be clear many of these Board and Commission members are serving for the public good without any part of this pension system. Most of them are not using their positions for personal gain, but New Jersey can no longer afford to keep one day a month jobs as part of the pension system.”
“For any licensing boards or commissions that would not be affected by the executive order, I plan to introduce legislation that would affect them as well,” Baroni concluded. “Governor Corzine’s suggestion to lay-off hardworking rank and file civil servants has no legitimacy if he won’t first do what he can to eliminate political patronage and pension padding jobs.”
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February 5, 2008
