NJ WatchDog: $100,000-plus state pensions double in New Jersey

(graphic by Mark Lagerkvist)

By Mark Lagerkvist | New Jersey Watchdog

New Jersey’s $100K Club of retired public officials has more than doubled in the past four years, according to a New Jersey Watchdog analysis of state Treasury pension data.

As 2014 ended, 1,988 retirees were collecting state pensions in excess of $100,000 a year – the elite “1-percenters” among New Jersey’s 285,000 retirees. That number has grown quickly since 2010 when the count was 971.

New Jersey Watchdog found:

• The distinction of richest pension – $195,000 a year – is shared by former Jersey City school superintendent Charles Epps and retired Essex County College president A.Z. Yamba.
• Twenty-three of the 29 retirees who get more than $150,000 a year are retired school administrators.
• The City of Paterson is the capital of the $100K Club with 36 retirees, followed by Bergen County with 34, Hoboken with 28 and Atlantic City with 27.
• Local law enforcement and fire department retirees draw the most six-figure pensions. More than 47 percent (943) of the $100K Club members receive benefits from the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System.
• Of those PFRS pensioners, nearly 93 percent (873) took advantage of “special retirement,” a provision in state law that enables police and fire officials – but not other public employees – to collect full pensions at relatively young ages.

The story is now online at http://watchdog.org/200210/nj-100k-pensions-double/.

Click here for New Jersey Watchdog's list of $100K Club's 1,988 retirees ranked by pension pay.

Click here for an A-Z alphabetized list of those pensioners.

Click here for the list sorted by the retirees' governmental employers.

NJ WATCHDOG: Christie's ethics watchdogs fail to bark or bite

For immediate release:

When it comes to ethics, Chris Christie can talk the talk. But does the New Jersey governor walk the walk when his ethics watchdogs are actually lapdogs?

Christie’s hand-picked Ethics Advisory Panel did not take action during its first four years – a period in which Bridgegate, Doublegate and other controversies came to light.

In response to a public records request by New Jersey Watchdog, the governor’s office reported it cannot find any decision by the panel.

Created by executive order, the panel has the power to penalize and fine the governor or lieutenant governor for ethical infractions. But as governor, Christie picks the panel members – and he retains the power to rescind any executive order anytime he chooses.

The existence of the Ethics Advisory Panel did not prevent the conflict of interest faced by the governor and his administration in Doublegate – a pension controversy implicating Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno.

A state pension board requested a criminal investigation of alleged pension fraud in May 2011. The case was assigned to the attorney general’s Division of Criminal Justice – even though Guadagno was DCJ’s former deputy director.

Faced with a choice, Christie did not use his constitutional power to appoint a special prosecutor or investigator to handle a probe likely to involve his lieutenant governor. The Ethics Advisory Panel had the authority to review the matter at its own discretion and issue a public determination.

But that never happened.

The story is now online at http://watchdog.org/163209/christie-ethics-watchdogs/.

$100K Club of NJ Retirees Grows 75% in 3 Years

For Immediate Release:


New Jersey's elite $100K Club of retired public officials has ballooned by 75 percent in the last three years.

A total of 1,731 retirees collect $100,000 a year or more from state pensions – an increase of 739 pensioners since 2010, according to a New Jersey Watchdog analysis of Treasury data.

New Jersey Watchdog also found:

• Sitting at the top of the list with $195,000 annual pensions are former Jersey City school superintendent Charles Epps and retired Essex County College president A. Z. Yamba.
• Among local governments, the City of Paterson is the capital of the $100K Club. Paterson has 34 retirees receiving $100,000-plus, followed by Hoboken and Bergen County with 26 each and Paramus with 25.
• Retired police and fire officials are most likely to be to $100K Club members. The Police and Firemen's Retirement System has 794 six-figure pensioners – trailed by the Teachers' Pension and Annuity Fund with 527, Judicial Retirement System with 283 and Public Employees Retirement System with 127.
• The overwhelming majority of PFRS $100K retirees – 737 or 93 percent – took advantage of "special retirement." It is an exclusive provision in state statute that allows police and fire officers – but not other public employees – to retire at relatively young ages.

The story is now online at http://newjersey.watchdog.org. The direct link to the story – including New Jersey Watchdog's lists of $100K Club retirees – is http://newjersey.watchdog.org/2014/02/24/100k-pension-club/.

Christie vetoes pending bills

From PolitickerNJ:


TRENTON – Gov. Chris Christie announced vetoing eight pieces of pending legislation Friday afertnoon.

The following bills were written off by the governor:

SCS for S-968, 1494/A998 (Weinberg, Turner/Vainieri Huttle, Watson Coleman) – ABSOLUTE - Establishes procedures and standards regarding public service privatization contracts

S2188/A3775 (Gordon,Weinberg/Wagner,Eustace,DeAngelo,Benson) – ABSOLUTE – Requires employer notification when relocating call center services outside the United States

S2644/A4233 (Vitale, Gill, Weinberg/Oliver, Prieto, Quijano) – ABSOLUTE - Expands Medicaid eligibility pursuant to federal “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”

S2825/A4172 (Weinberg, Greenstein, Sarlo/Mosquera, Lampitt, Stender, Jasey, Watson Colman, Wisniewski, Caride) - ABSOLUTE – Makes FY 2013 supplemental appropriation to DOH for $7,453,000 for family planning services

A3668/SCS for S2467, 2471 (Jasey, McKeon, Cryan, Johnson, Quijano/Gill, Weinberg, Codey) -ABSOLUTE – Prohibits investment by State of pension and annuity funds in companies manufacturing, importing, and selling assault firearms for civilians use

A3807/S2595 (Caputo, Tucker, Wagner, Eustace/Rice, Gill) – ABSOLUTE – ‟Corporate Disinvestment Property Tax Relief Act”; appropriates $13.5 million

A3878/S2673 (Conaway, Riley, Lampitt, Eustace/Gill) – ABSOLUTE- Requires Commissioner of Banking and Insurance to establish public awareness campaign about new federally required health insurance exchange

A4171/S2824 (Wagner, Vainieri Huttle, Stender, Quijano, Eustace/Weinberg, Gill) – ABSOLUTE - Provides Medicaid coverage for family planning services to individuals with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level

Christie said regarding all of the bills vetoed that they “would deplete the state’s fiscal resources, restructure government in a significant manner, and significantly alter the policy and spending priorities set forth in the Appropriations Act.’’

He said they would have added hundreds of millions of dollars to state and local budgets. He said that although individual bills may have had merits they should have been negotiated as part of the overall budget negotiation process.

NJ Watchdog: NO MATTER WHO WINS OCEAN COUNTY ELECTION, TAXPAYERS LOSE

For Immediate Release


No matter who wins next month's election, the sheriff of Ocean County will still be a double-dipper – and maybe a pension millionaire.

Since 1986, Sheriff William Polhemus has pocketed $929,793 in pension pay in addition to his salary. He currently receives $165,941 a year – $122,669 in salary plus a $43,272 pension as retired Seaside Heights police chief.

Both of his election opponents – Independent Dennis McMenamin and Democrat George "Bob" Armstrong – also draw pensions as retired law enforcement officers.

McMenamin receives a $90,398 a year tax-free disability pension. As a Stafford Township police lieutenant, McMenamin was injured in a 2006 on-duty accident involving an all-terrain-vehicle.

While the state considers him to be "totally and permanently disabled," McMenamin contends his disability would not impair his ability to serve as sheriff.

Democrat Armstrong gets a modest state pension of $7,836 a year from his five years of service as investigator for the State Commission of Investigations and the Division of Criminal Justice.

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