Lt. Gov. Guadagno Breaks Silence on Double-Dipping

For Immediate Release:


New Jersey Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno – as Monmouth County sheriff in 2008 – made conflicting and misleading statements to enable her top aide to collect an $85,000 a year pension plus an $87,500 salary.

Now in the heat of a political campaign, Guadagno has broken a long silence. She claims her maneuvers benefitted taxpayers.

"It saved the taxpayers of Monmouth County $50,000 for the year, put a uniformed officer on the street, put a well-qualified retired law enforcement officer in his place," Guadagno told Associated Press in a national wire story.

Her explanation overlooked several key facts:

• The aide, Michael W. Donovan, collected $228,000 he otherwise would not have received from a state pension fund. He also avoided paying $17,000 in new contributions to the Police and Firemen's Retirement System.
• The incident triggered an investigation in 2011 by the state Division of Criminal Justice. The probe was requested by the PFRS board of trustees.
• Despite a glaring conflict of interest – Guadagno was DCJ's former deputy director – Gov. Chris Christie failed to appoint an independent investigator or prosecutor to handle the case.
• DCJ has refused to reveal the results of its investigation. A New Jersey Watchdog reporter is suing the state in Mercer County Superior Court for records of the probe.

The Guadagno-Donovan pension controversy was first revealed by a New Jersey Watchdog investigation in 2010.

The full story is now online at http://newjersey.watchdog.org. The direct link is http://newjersey.watchdog.org/2013/11/01/9333/.