NJ WATCHDOG: Court orders NJ to reveal pension probe secrets

For Immediate Release:

COURT ORDERS CHRISTIE ADMIN TO REVEAL PENSION PROBE SECRETS

A New Jersey court may force Gov. Chris Christie's administration to reveal information about a hush-hush state pension probe involving Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and a quarter-million dollar double-dipping scheme.

Superior Court Judge Mary C. Jacobson ordered the attorney general's Division of Criminal Justice to submit an index of its investigatory records for release to a New Jersey Watchdog reporter.

The stakes are high for Christie, who eyes a 2016 campaign for the presidency, and Guadagno, who could become governor if her boss quits to run for the White House.

Jacobson's decision was a stunning setback for the state, which sought an order entirely dismissing the reporter's public records lawsuit.  The attorney general argued that all of its 770-plus pages of records should be exempt from disclosure.

Instead, the judge will require DCJ to argue its need for secrecy on a document-by-document basis.  Release of the index opens the door for specific arguments on whether the public interest in release of the records outweighs the state's interest in keeping the information confidential.

"The public has an indisputable and overriding interest in knowing about the integrity of government and the conduct of elected officials in their governance," stated the reporter in a certification filed with the court. 

DCJ began its criminal investigation in May 2011 at the behest of a pension board, according to a certification by a state pension official. Christie, Guadagno and DCJ officials have declined comment. In court papers, the state refused to acknowledge whether the case is open or closed.

The controversy began with an investigative report by New Jersey Watchdog in 2010 detailing how false statements by Guadagno enabled one of her top aides to improperly collect $227,000 in pension checks from the Police and Firemen's Retirement System.

The story is online at http://newjersey.watchdog.org. 

NJ Watchdog: $100K Pension Club

For immediate release:

 $100K NEW JERSEY PENSIONS 'CLUB' STATE RETIREMENT FUNDS

Call it the $100K Club – an elite corps of retired public employees that's growing bigger, younger and richer at the expense of the New Jersey retirement system.

The number of retirees collecting more than $100,000 a year from state pensions jumped to 1,244 last year – up 28 percent from 2010, according to New Jersey Watchdog's analysis of state data.  For example:·

• New Brunswick Police Director Anthony Caputo, for example, retired at age 47 to draw a $115,019 annual pension. One year later, the city rehired Caputo as police director – the same position – at a $120,000 salary. For one job, he receives two checks, totaling $235,019 a year.
• Robert Mulcahy hit the jackpot when he was fired as Rutgers University's $341,250-a-year athletic director. He received a severance package that cost the state school more than $600,000.  The next month, Mulcahy started collecting a $162,399 annual pension.·      
•  Joseph Blaettler will rake in more than $4.5 million from the Police and Firemen's Retirement Fund if he reaches age 80, his statistical life expectancy. At age 46, Blaettler began pocketing nearly $135,000 a year in retirement checks when he stepped down as Union City deputy police chief.

For the complete story, go to http://newjersey.watchdog.org/.

NOTE – New Jersey Watchdog will release the full list of 1,244 $100K Club members on its web site tomorrow, April 3.