Senator Gerald Cardinale

January 13, 2009   

Contact: Senate Republican Office / (609) 292-5199
Senator Gerald Cardinale

Talk Comes on Day that Corzine Puts One More Hack on the Payroll

A few years back, Lilo Stainton of Gannett authored a blockbuster Sunday story about how the School Construction Corporation was wasting money on political mailings that cost millions of dollars and prominently featured former Governor James McGreevey. The story laid out a scandal where McGreevey was clearly using millions of dollars of taxpayer money (and money meant for school kids) to promote himself. To his credit, Senate President Codey pulled the plug on the marketing scam soon after replacing McGreevey, as Governor.

But today, the SCC’s marketing consultant under McGreevey (Idida Rodriguez) who was paid a large amount of money to create wasteful public relations mailings for the SCC, got rewarded with a patronage appointment to the Local Finance Board. Senate Democrats voted today to confirm Corzine’s appointment largely along party lines. The position pays $12,000 ($1,000 per monthly meeting) plus health benefits. Essentially, commissioners get $20,000 per year or more in compensation to go to monthly meetings. Other political soldiers who also were rewarded with patronage appointments to the commission and who continue to get full time pension credit for their time on the commission (which boosts their State pensions by about $10,000 per year upon retirement) include Governor McGreevey’s former Chief of Staff and Corzine’s first campaign manager.

The Local Finance Board is the same board that administers the widely discredited and corrupt Special Municipal Aid Program which is a $145 million program that has given out past five years without applications or merit-based reviews. The State auditor recently slammed the program in a performance audit as mismanaged and politicized.

Republicans have been proposing for three years to eliminate the commission or at least eliminate pay for membership and Corzine has refused. Ironically, the same day appointment of an SCC employee is confirmed to the board and is put on the State payroll, Corzine will talk about being frugal with taxpayers’ money. Our State is sick and broke and it seems nothing will stop the waste.

“If Corzine is serious about being frugal, the actions of our Government today in appointing a leech to a patronage job paid for by taxpayers sure doesn’t prove it,” said Cardinale.

Talk Comes on Day that Corzine Puts One More Hack on the Payroll A few years back, Lilo Stainton of Gannett authored a blockbuster Sunday story about how the School Construction Corporation was wasting money on political mailings that cost millions of dollars and prominently [...]