get the petition, I'll sign it. Can you also put in there, fixing the roads, better police presence and some damn sanitation workers while you're at it?

I like Healy and Corzine, but Epps seems out of control.

==================

CALL FOR EPPS PROBE
School employees are assemblyman aides
Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Lumping Jersey City's state-appointed schools chief, Charles T. Epps Jr., with Newark's free-spending ex-mayor, Sharpe James, Assemblyman Richard Merkt, R-Randolph, called this week for "someone" to hold them accountable.

Citing Monday's Jersey Journal story that revealed Epps, also an assemblyman, has placed four school district employees on his Assembly payroll, Merkt stated in a press release:

"Clearly this raises questions about what jobs these individuals are doing and on whose time they are doing these jobs.

"There is legitimate concern that these employees are getting paid to do legislative work on school district time or vice versa," Merkt added.

Two separate investigations - one state, one federal - has been launched into James' use of two city-issued credit cards, which he used to rack up nearly $160,000 worth of expenses over the past four years, including trips to the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Brazil.

"New Jersey citizens are fed up with government officials using tax dollars as their own personal expense accounts and double dipping on the taxpayer dime," Merkt said.

KEN THORBOURNE

Quote:

Heh, I wasn't going to, anyway, but I'll happily sign your petition.

Isn't there an online petition generator that, at the end, transmits the petition to your lobbying target? Can't remember what that was just now but seems useful.

We should start a petition to Corizine. If Epps gets a raise, nobody will vote Healy/Corizine come around next election.

You get enough people to sign and you might make some waves.

I never met the man but holding more than one governement job always strikes me as odd.

Here is an article I posted elsewhere from today's Trenton Times:
----------------------------

New Jersey leads nation in political double-dipping
Monday, August 21, 2006

Among our unfortunate distinctions in New Jersey is that we lead the nation in political double-dipping.

No other state allows people to hold multiple taxpayer-funded jobs to the extent New Jersey does. Many states' constitutions or laws ban it. In Indiana, a person can go to prison for it. The federal government also forbids the practice.

But not New Jersey, where self-indulgence by politicians is a tradition. In 1962, in fact, the Legislature, worried that the courts would restrict double-dipping, enacted a law explicitly allowing it.

"One to a Customer: The Democratic Downsides of Dual Officeholding" is a new report co-sponsored by New Jersey Policy Perspective and written by public-policy expert Tom O'Neill of Pennington. It notes that 20 of New Jersey's 120 legislators (none are from Mercer County) hold local elective offices in addition to their $49,000-a-year part-time lawmakers' gigs. Another 19 legislators have appointive government jobs. The total doesn't include Sen. Sharpe James (D-Essex), who recently retired as the $184,410-a-year mayor of Newark, the state's largest city. Dual officeholding also is common at the county and municipal levels.

It's a bad deal for the public, for reasons that are spelled out in O'Neill's report.

Conflict of interest is built into the system. Mayors who double as legislators argue that by holding state office they can get the most in funds and favors for their towns, but often that comes at a cost to the other towns in their legislative districts, or the state as a whole, whose interests the lawmakers also are sworn to protect. In the case of James, he has used his leverage as a senator to bargain for special favors for Newark. According to O'Neill, James also invoked senatorial courtesy to block the appointment of an Essex County prosecutor he didn't want -- a prosecutor who would have been responsible for any possible legal investigations involving the mayor's administration.

Double-dippers are unlikely to be able to give sufficient time and attention to one or both of their public jobs. Assemblyman Charles Epps Jr. (D-Hudson), spends at least two days of most weeks at the State House, which is time when he's not back home superintending Jersey City's troubled school district, for which he receives $210,520 a year. In 2003, Assemblyman Ronald S. Dancer (R-Ocean) triple-dipped as a legislator, mayor and Ocean County employee.

It's hard enough for a challenger to unseat an incumbent in an election, but when the incumbent holds two elective jobs, he doubles the campaign advantage he enjoys in such areas as publicity, fundraising and staff assistance.

Multiple positions lead to padded public-funded pensions. For example, former Senate President John Bennett (R-Monmouth) qualified for an annual pension of $91,176, based on his 24 years in the Legislature and his salaries as attorney for several municipalities and school boards in his district.

There are some refreshing exceptions to the prevailing attitude. One freshman Assembly member, Amy Handlin (R-Monmouth), stepped down after 15 years as a county freeholder when she was elected to the Legislature last year, and another, Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth), resigned her seat on the Red Bank Borough Council. "You can't fully commit yourself to two elected positions," Beck told a reporter. "It's impossible to manage local priorities and larger responsibilities of a legislative district. In the end, somebody gets short-changed."

Not surprisingly, though, there's little enthusiasm in the Legislature for a ban on double-dipping. The fervor is limited to a familiar group of reform advocates, such as Assemblymen Bill Baroni (R-Mercer), and Michael Panter (D-Monmouth), who have sponsored bills to require legislators to shed their extra government jobs as soon as possible. Two years ago, when the Democratic-controlled Assembly made a start on restricting pay-to-play, it approved a bill calling for a study of multiple officeholding, a move that often is done at the State House to forestall action. But even a study was too much for the Senate Democrats, who buried the measure in committee.

Former Gov. Richard Codey, who still is president of the Senate, said the chances for passage of any kind of restriction on dual officeholding are "50-50." It will happen only if present beneficiaries are grandfathered, he said. That way, at best, it would take years to eliminate the practice.

"I've never subscribed to it," Codey said. "I think you're better off just concentrating on one job. But others say, 'If the voters choose that way, who are you to tell them they can't?' I've got running mates who are dual officeholders" -- Democrats Mims Hackett and John McKeon, the mayors of Orange and West Orange, respectively -- "and they do a great job as state Assembly people and as mayors. People would say, 'When they ran, it was well known that they would be dual officeholders. They won. People said it didn't bother them.'"

The "let the voters decide" argument is simplistic, however. Tom O'Neill points out that most dual officeholders come from safe, one-party districts, where incumbents lose mostly in primaries. As the number of such districts increases, "the elective offices are more insulated from active public accountability," O'Neill wrote. In a swing district, there's a better chance of getting a true test of public sentiment. A memorable instance in which dual officeholding became a campaign issue was in 1985, when the voters of the 14th District nearly denied popular Hamilton Mayor Jack Rafferty's bid for an Assembly seat because many of them disagreed with his announced plan to hold both jobs.

The only changes related to dual officeholding that appear to have a real chance of enactment are a requirement that double-dippers choose one job for calculating pensions and benefits and an end to pension eligibility by professional-service providers. These are part of the agenda of the Legislature's special session on tax reform. They also are the only aspect of double-dipping that seems to trouble Gov. Jon Corzine.

"That's something we clearly have to do. I think there will be reforms in that area," Codey said.


Contact George Amick at gamick@njtimes.com.

What a self-important, greedy prick... it just amazes me. I've bumped into him from time to time at different social occasions in JC, and each time he's got his mouth running about what a great guy he is, and how stinking gifted he is as a musician, and such a great influence on the students. Please...

He should get raised alright. By a noose!

Of all the votes i wish i could take back, this one is right up there.What a fat load this guy turned out to be.I went along with him because he was paired with Lou Manzo who i think does a good job but even Manzo now thinks Epps is no good.Is there no way to recall this Bum.How about an e-mail drive to Gov. Corzine.Epps is pulling down close to three hundred grand,for what?

Epps' school aides earn $129K, work for him in Assembly job, too
Monday, August 21, 2006
By EARL MORGAN
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

KEN THORBOURNE

Ellen Zadroga, Jersey City's Superintendent of Schools Charles T. Epps' executive assistant, is set to retire next month after 31 years working for the school district.

Since January, Zadroga - who underwent a life-saving kidney operation a few years ago - has been holding down two jobs.

Zadroga, 63, one of four school board employees on Epps' Assembly payroll, said she's been doing her part-time Assembly work at night and on weekends, which consists of opening mail and formulating responses to constituents.

Zadroga, a $500 donor to Epps' Assembly campaign, received a pay hike from $121,730 to $129,508 on June 30. Never, she said, does she discuss Assembly business with him on school time.

"He (Epps) lives close by and is just a phone call away," she said.

Charles Trefurt, a special assistant to Epps by day, is also an Assembly worker by night.

Like Zadroga, he too says he opens mail, does research, and meets with constituent groups.

Trefurt said he couldn't remember any community groups he's met with since he was hired in January.

"There are too many to recall," he said.

Trefurt contributed $1,125 to Epps' campaign, and received a roughly $6,000 pay boost on June 30, bringing his salary to $129,508, according to school records.

Linda Zupko, an analyst with the Board of Education,, said she too answers phones at the Assembly office at night.

But neither she, nor Zadroga, nor Trefurt, were in when The Jersey Journal visited the Kennedy Boulevard office seven times at night and on Saturdays over the past few months.

Robert Marshall, a part-time security guard with the board, who also works as an Assembly aide, didn't return phone calls to comment.

The only reliable presence to be found in Epps' Kennedy Boulevard office was Kathleen Washington, who works on weekdays from 1 to 5 p.m.

She said she also "answers the phones and opens mail."

Epps hires four school employees as legislative aides
Monday, August 21, 2006
By EARL MORGAN and KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITERS

Jersey City's schools chief Charles T. Epps Jr., who doubles as a state assemblyman for Jersey City and Bayonne, has hired four school district employees to part-time jobs on his state assembly staff - further blurring the lines between his two public roles.

Ellen Zadroga, Epps' $129,508-a-year executive assistant and Charles Trefurt, a $129,508-a-year special assistant to the superintendent, have both been hired as $12,000-a-year legislative aides, according to state records obtained by The Jersey Journal.

Epps has also hired Linda Zupko, an analyst with the board, and part-time Board of Education security guard Robert Marshall as legislative aides. Zupko is paid $67,000 annually for her day job and earns another $5,000 a year for her Assembly work.

Marshall, who works roughly 28 hours a week for the Board of Education, earns $14.40 per hour for his security guard duties and is paid $2,750 a year as a part-time legislative aide, according to school officials and state documents.

The four hires represent one-third of Epps' 12-member legislative staff.

There's nothing illegal about Epps hiring school district employees to work on his Assembly payroll. But for some, it's further evidence that Epps has muddied the waters between his two public positions.

Terrence Curran, who resigned as a member of the Board of Education in June due to a move, said he stopped supporting Epps after he saw him "co-mingling" his staff.

"I think it is difficult for (Epps) to keep the two positions separate," Curran said. "It puts the district in a bad position."

Former Jersey City School Board Trustee Sonia Araujo, who held a seat on the board from 1998 to 2001, questioned the focus of school employees who are splitting their time between the educational matters and legislative work.

"It is a little mind-boggling to me," Araujo said. "I think everyone in the school district should concentrate on making Jersey City public schools a place that operates effectively.

"I think everything is going back to the way it was," Araujo added, alluding to conditions 17 years ago when the state took over the school district. "I guess the state did a takeover because of the politics. It looks like things have gone full circle."

Epps did not return several phone calls seeking comment on this article but briefly spoke about the subject after a school board meeting in June.

Epps insisted none of his school board employees worked beyond 5 p.m. during the week and, like him, were quite capable of holding down two jobs.

The Assembly workers answer phones at his legislative office, open his mail, conduct research, and meet with constituents, Epps said.

Asked why none were present when The Jersey Journal visited seven times over a period of a few months earlier this summer, Epps replied, "I can't answer that."

He did say he saw no conflict in his hiring decisions.

"I did the best I could," he said.

SCHOOLS CHIEF IS UP FOR A RAISE
Monday, August 21, 2006
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Jersey City's $220,000-a-year schools chief, state Assemblyman Charles T. Epps Jr., is due a pay hike - somewhere between $9,400 to $37,700.

According the terms of his latest three-year contract with the state, Epps became eligible for a pay increase ranging from 4.5 to 16.5 percent on July 1.

State Commissioner of Education Lucille Davy is still awaiting data to determine how much of a raise Epps will receive, said Richard Vespucci, a spokesman for the department.

Some of the data relates to test score information, which will be finalized at the end of the month, and the number of special education students in the district now taking classes with the general student population, Vespucci said.

The 4.5 percent pay hike ($9,473) is based on "satisfactory performance as determined by the commissioner of education," according to the contract.

Another 12 percent ($25,262) would be tacked on if the district meets three performance markers - each worth a 4 percent pay bump.

The first incentive bonus sets as a goal increasing the number of special-ed students in general-ed classrooms by 10 percent.

The second bonus clause aims to reduce the number of special-ed students who spend less than 40 percent of their time in general-ed classes by 5 percent.

The third incentive bonus targets a 10 percent hike in the passing rates of students in the 3rd-, 4th, 8th-, and 11th grades on the standardized language test.

In addition to his salary, Epps, who lives in Society Hill, also receives a $1,000-a-month housing allowance.

The nine members of Jersey City's advisory school board recently completed an evaluation of Epps' performance as superintendent. They refused to make the report public, saying it is a personnel matter. But some board members did discuss their views of the six-year superintendent.

Board member Angel Valentin said his opinion of Epps' job performance became "mixed" once Epps took on the second job of assemblyman for Jersey City and Bayonne in January.

"He has to spend two days (a week) in Trenton," Valentin said. "We need a senior staff that is going to be on the same page five days of the week, not three."

Former Jersey City Mayor and Board member Anthony Cucci gave Epps a "positive evaluation."

Cucci chalked up a much-publicized trip Epps and an associate took to England two years ago that cost taxpayers nearly $21,000 as a "mistake." Epps and the associate eventually paid back roughly half the money.

"It was wrong," Cucci said. "But he (Epps) handled it in a proper manner by admitting it and making reimbursement, and saying it wouldn't happen again."