the closer the report focuses on JC/Hudson County the higher the percentage gets....

from the NY Times - Dual-Job Ban Is Not Enough, Report Says

A look at the state?s 10 largest cities by the researchers found that more than 50 percent of council members work in public jobs. Of the 137 county freeholders, 40 percent hold at least one other public job. And in the State Legislature, 12 of the 40 senators derive income from public employment and 26 of the 80 Assembly members have such jobs.

Quote:

Try emailing the journalist, the email is in the first post.

Where can you get this report?Is there a link that can be posted?

What ever happen to the ETHICS Committee - do they too all have second public servant jobs?

I just noticed last night the electronic board in front of Dickinson blasting out Epps's name. What an abuse of position.

Report reveals 700 hold second public job in Garden State

Friday, July 20, 2007
By TRISH G. GRABER
tgraber@sjnewsco.com

TRENTON -- Calling dual office-holding "the tip of the iceberg," a New Jersey think-tank is lobbying for state guidelines to scale back dual job-holding on the public payroll -- practiced by more than 700 elected officials, according to a new report.

The New Jersey Policy Perspective report comes one month after the Legislature voted to phase out dual-officeholding, under scrutiny that the practice leads to pension padding, creates a conflict of interest and stifles government participation.

"The concerns raised by holding two or more elected and non-elected positions are at least as serious as those raised when one person holds two elective offices simultaneously," wrote report authors Tom O'Neill and Bill Schluter.

While there is nothing wrong with a teacher holding an elected position, O'Neill said, there is "nothing right" about a school superintendent in Jersey City at a salary of $210,520 spending two days a week in Trenton.

"You have to draw that line," O'Neill said.

The group said the state should form a commission to establish guidelines to help elected officials root out potential conflicts, from state legislators holding a publicly-paid position at a state college to municipal officials working for the county.

According to the report, 24 of the 80 assembly members held a public position during the 2006 study period; 9 of the 40 state senators held a second taxpayer-funded job.

The report does, however, question the ability of some officials to hold an elected office and spend the required amount of time at their public job. O'Neill suggested that jobs be filtered through an independent ethics board to ensure that elected officials will be doing "real work."

"You look at the job Sen. Wayne Bryant had at UMDNJ and at Rutgers Law School when he was doing nothing," he said of the state senator who recently pleaded not guilty to charges that, among other infractions, he steered millions of dollars to a state medical school where he held a low-show job.

Of the 137 freeholders in the state, at least 56 hold at least one public sector job; 23 freeholders hold another elected office.

Additionally, 600 municipal elected officials have at least one job on a public payroll besides their elected positions; 30 percent are employed in public education; 20 percent work in county government; 14 percent work for public authorities.

Rutgers Eagleton Institute of Politics Project New Jersey Director Ingrid Reed said the report brings to light a topic that should be discussed publicly, but should also be carefully evaluated.

"We want to see a variety of people serve in the Legislature," she said. "But we want to be aware of the potential conflict."