NJ Watchdog: Christie plays offense on NJ pension reforms

Backed into a fiscal corner, a defiant Gov. Chris Christie went on the offensive by proposing an ambitious reform to freeze existing New Jersey state pensions, create new replacement plans and eventually turn over control of the retirement system to labor unions of public workers.

“We don’t need any court to tell us we have a serious problem,” declared Christie in his annual budget address today, one day after a judge ruled the governor unlawfully chopped $1.57 billion from this year’s contribution to the pensions. “No one branch of government can wish, or order this problem away.”

Christie spent nearly nine-tenths of his 28-minute speech talking about pensions to the near-exclusion of the rest of the budget and other economic problems facing New Jersey.

“I was shocked to hear what we heard today,” responded Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-West Deptford. “I was hoping to hear something about moving forward and actually creating jobs in this state.”

The governor briefly announced a $33.8 billion budget with no new taxes for fiscal 2016. He made no mention of the state’s nearly bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund, which is already $17 billion in debt. He vowed to contribute $1.3 billion to the pension funds in 2016 -- less than half of the amount required by statute -- but said nothing about where the state will find the extra $1.57 billion to pay this year.

“I was so underwhelmed with this so-called budget address,” added Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck. “When he got to the end, I thought there were going to be some paragraphs of substance, but there was nothing.”

Instead, Christie offered sketchy details on what he touted as a “national model” for public pension reform – and bragged about an “unprecedented accord” with his longtime nemesis, the 195,000-member New Jersey Education Association.

According to the Christie, NJEA agreed to the framework of a proposal by the governor’s Pension and Health Benefits Study Commission. But after the speech, the teachers’ union quickly backed away from Christie’s claims.

The story is online at http://watchdog.org/202213/christie-pension-reforms/.

NJ WATCHDOG: Report bears bad news; fails to bare abuses

New Jersey taxpayers will find plenty of bad news in the first report of the special commission Gov. Chris Christie appointed to study the $90 billion deficit in the state’s retirement system.

“This problem is dire and will only become much worse if meaningful steps are not taken quickly,” concluded the New Jersey Pension and Health Benefit Study Commission paper released yesterday.

Yet the findings ignored many of the weaknesses and abuses that have heavily contributed to the dilemma threatening New Jersey’s fiscal health. It did not mention of the sham retirements, double-dipping, disability cheats, part-timers collecting full benefits or generous six-figure pensions that have drained state funds.

The governor’s hand-picked, blue ribbon panel overlooked those abuses – including most of the “seven deadly sins” detailed in a New Jersey Watchdog investigative report earlier this week.

The story is online at http://watchdog.org/173560/nj-pension-report/.