NEWS RELEASE
October 5, 2011
Old Bridge – Now that Governor Chris Christie has decided not to pursue the Republican nomination for President, District 12 State Senate candidate Bob Brown is calling on him to join in calling for Assemblyman Sam Thompson to stop double dipping. Thompson is collecting both a pension from a state government job he retired from and a salary as a state legislator, totaling over $100,000.
“Governor Christie has been very clear on double dipping in the past – he’s totally against it and so am I,” said Brown, a retired police officer who was shot in the line of duty and later became an attorney. “Now that the Governor has decided to stay in New Jersey, I hope he’ll join me in telling Sam Thompson to stop abusing taxpayers by taking both a state pension and salary.”
Christie famously said that reporters should “take the bat out” on State Senator Loretta Weinberg earlier this year after it became clear that she was double dipping, and has also criticized Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, an ally of his, for the same practice. Brown currently receives a government disability pension but has pledged to stop receiving it if he’s elected to the state senate.
When asked by a reporter from PolitickerNJ about his double dipping, Thompson tried to turn the question around on police officers who take up a second career after retirement. Brown called on Thompson to apologize for these offensive comments about law enforcement but Thompson has refused.
For any additional information, please contact Philip Swibinski, campaign spokesman, at 201-978-8651 or philip.swibinski@vmmi.net.
4 comments:
Bob,
Really like the way you leveraged Christy; good move; nice positioning; very nice 'all in' on Sammy and double dipping and the Gov.
The Gov is the same way with sewerage authorities. Christy rightfully hammers Passaic and ignores the patronage pit at the all Republican Middletown sewerage authority.
If anyone is going to fix the double dipping then the answers are quite simple. Police cannot retire with pension benefits while they are in their 40's & 50's. Anyone who has served in government also needs to stay employed until they are in their
60's then collect their pension/SS. Even though I am not one of the very lucky to have taken such a sweet deal, I would probably take advantage as these people do. So blaming the double dipper without blaming a aholes that negotiated the deal to begin with sounds moot.
Anon 6:29 AM,
Those that negotiated and wrote the original legislation that created double dipping opportunities are mostly the same people who are double dipping.
I don't see anyone in the NJ legislature, like Sam Thompson, rushing to change this. One of Thompson's duties as a legislator is to find and maintain revenue sources and to do away with abuses that harm taxpayers. Double dipping is an abuse; and, the double dipping money could be reallocated to serve the needs of the taxpayers. Thompson should be looking at all of the NJ agencies authorities out there that are cover for double dipping dens.
Laws are made to be changed when they are self serving and not serving of the people.
These politically motivated monstrous practices need to be changed. They are helping to drive the public pension system into bankruptcy.
One pension on the public's dime is sufficient for ANYONE !
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