I am a dude! Why isn't that still sexy?

RACIST!

Quote:


I'm trying to invision that being sexy, but I thought you're a dude.

I wasn't even wearing panties yesterday!

My point is that North NJ is ran by a democratic "political machine" that has no interest in enacting a law that prevents double dipping. It is very unlikely that a democrat will go up against this machine. If there were a Republican machine it would be the opposite.

When did I ever say what is right or not, I just mentioned a likely scenario. Don't get your panties in a bunch.


Quote:

Quote:

Dem or Repub, I think it is allright to vote for a single issue candidate at the local level, especially when the single issue has such far reaching consequences.

But, that being said, a better alternative is just to vote out anyone that holds two positions. There have to be alternatives out there somewhere.

So it's okay to vote for one-issue candidates, as long as they're republicans?

Right. That's what I thought.

Quote:

We need to stop voting for people that double dip. *If* anyone runs on a platform to pass a law making this illegal, we must support them.

Possibly a republican looking to run on a big ticket item like this.

so how the hell do we get it outlawed?

as if.

I thought double dipping was when I stick my fingers into the salsa sauce when I'm at Denny's

NJ is one of the very few if any states in the union that allow for this bullshit........

If your a politician in another state dbl dipping into the pension fund, your prosecuted and sent to prison, no questions and or doubts about it...

So when everyone is bitching about yr tax rate hike and lack of bang for your tax buck$$$ just thank everyone on the statehouse that allows for this crap....

CK

That's the problem - in New Jersey it's legal.

Not the case in Delaware.

Attached is the link to the Delaware "Double Dipping" statute, which requires the auditing of dual-jobbed state employees and the pro-rating of salaries for any overlapping time records. If the employee double dipped he/she is considered to have enriched himself at the expense of the state and must reimburse his/her salary.

http://www.state.de.us/pic/sections/conduct/bulletins/ethbul9.pdf

Quote:

1) It's legal
2) The democratic machine continues to increase the payrolls with unneeded positions in order to hand out the positions as political favors
3) The voters don't punish them for holding two jobs, even if there are conflicts of interest

No one to blame but ourselves.

THREE members of the Jersey City Council - Mariano Vega, Bill Gaughan and Viola Richardson - are double dipping.

Why is this allowed?

Politicians double-dip to earn 6-digit paychecks
Monday, November 13, 2006
By JARRETT RENSHAW
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Social Security paychecks? Fuggedaboutit.

A large number of Hudson County pols are bankrolling a career in public life into cozy, taxpayer funded retirement plan thanks to spreading themselves out in a number of different jobs, according to The Jersey Journal's review of state pension records.

The Journal review shows that 13 elected officials in Hudson County earn six-figure salaries - and a host of others below that threshold - through a combination of different public jobs, including two pols who rank third and fifth in the state when it comes to prolific pension takers.

Embattled Jersey City School Superintendent and state Assemblyman Charles T. Epps Jr. tops the Hudson County list - and ranks third in the state - with a combined salary of $268,993. That does not include his $1,000 a month in a housing allowance as superintendent. Epps did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Nicholas Sacco, a frequent target of government reformers for his bevy of vocations, finished second in the county and fifth in the state with a combined salary of $247,558 related to his jobs as state senator, North Bergen mayor and assistant superintendent in the North Bergen School District.

"I strongly disagree with any suggestion that my 39-year career in public service constitutes any pension abuse," Sacco said in a written statement. "If three different people held the same positions that I hold, the cost to the taxpayer for salaries and pension would be the same and health benefit costs would actually be higher. To suggest anything else is a deliberate attempt to mislead people."

The other "six-figure" pols who multiple two taxpayer paychecks include:

-Sal Vega, who makes a combined $153,894 as a Hudson County freeholder, West New York commissioner and West New York school athletic director. (Vega, who became West New York mayor last week, is expected also to be named assemblyman, replacing newly-elected Rep. Albio Sires in both posts. Vega is expected to step down as freeholder but not from his other jobs.)

-Vincent Prieto, who makes a combined $151,390 as Secaucus construction code/plumbing and state assemblyman.

-Mariano Vega, who makes a combined $147,450 as a Jersey City councilman and Hudson County director of parks.

-James Doran, who makes a combined $144,136 as a Harrison councilman and Hudson County Vocational School principal/supervisor.

-Bill Gaughan, who makes a combined $139,965 as chief of staff to Hudson County Executive Tom Degise and Jersey City councilman.

-Richard Turner, who makes a combined $133,618 as mayor of Weehawken, West New York business administrator and a member of the state's Local Finance Board. (On Friday, Turner resigned as business administrator and will now serve as Rep. Sires' regional director.)

-Joseph V. Doria Jr., who makes a combined $121,000 as Bayonne mayor and state senator.

-Albert Cifelli, who makes a combined $118,321 as Harrison tax assessor, Harrison public defender and a Hudson County freeholder.

-Hugh Cabrera, who makes a combined $113,750 as North Bergen Board of Education secretary and North Bergen commissioner.

-Viola Richardson, who makes a combined $108,746 as a Jersey City councilwoman and Hudson County program monitor.

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

State: No conflict with Spinello's multiple jobs
Monday, November 13, 2006
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A state board has ruled it's OK for Mary Spinello to be both a Jersey City councilwoman and the deputy executive director of the Jersey City Incinerator Authority.

"I'm glad it's put to rest," said Spinello, who represents Ward B. "The city has said it doesn't see it as an issue, but it's nice to have an outside party confirm what I believe was right all along."

The state Local Finance Board revealed its findings in a Oct. 23 letter written to Spinello and shared with City Council on Wednesday. The letter, signed by board chair Susan Jacobucci, didn't indicate who complained about Spinello.

The complaint argued that Spinello couldn't be independent since she worked for an agency whose board members are appointed by the mayor and raised questions about Spinello voting to put her boss, JCIA Executive Director Oren K. Dabney, in charge of filing a recycling grant.

The letter states there's nothing in Spinello's situation to indicate "one office is subordinate to another, or subject to its supervision or control, or the duties clash."

And voting to place Dabney in charge of a grant was "innocuous," the letter stated.

Before the council voted last month to allow a huge warehouse to be built on landfill site in Spinello's ward, Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop went to the newly reconstituted Jersey City Ethics Board and charged Spinello had a conflict of interest. The JCIA has levied fines on a company occupying the landfill site, Fulop said.

Fulop also filed a complaint against City Council President Mariano Vega, who initially wanted open space at the site. Vega is in charge of acquiring open space for the county.
===============================================================
Government workers earn several salaries
Monday, November 13, 2006
By JARRETT RENSHAW
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Joseph Zavarindo is a busy man.

In addition to serving as a captain in the North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue, he also serves as a fire marshal, building sub-code official, fire sub-code official and fire prevention official in three Bergen County towns. (Like many firefighters, Zavarindo works 24 hours straight in the firehouse, followed by 72 hours off.)

Zavarindo, who refused comment, earns about $163,645 in taxpayer money annually.

He also can look forward to a nice retirement, courtesy of a state law that allows him to increase his pension through cobbling together a number of different part-time public jobs.

A Jersey Journal review of state pension records obtained under the Open Public Records Acts shows that in Hudson County, roughly 440 government workers collect paychecks from at least one Hudson County government agency plus hold at least one other public job here or elsewhere.

The combined salaries of these government workers - including one who holds seven jobs - amounts to more than $36 million in taxpayer money now, and millions more later in retirement benefits.

"It's a cultural problem in Hudson County, clearly," said Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop. "People still have this machine party mentality that you repay people with multiple jobs."

Others, like Christopher Pianese, who works as a part-time chief financial officer for North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue, argue that multiple jobs are the definition of efficiency itself by offering part-time jobs for full-time positions, thereby cutting costs.

"If Hudson Regional hired a full-time CFO, they would pay more than $100,000, but they get me, with my experience, for substantially less and there's no benefits," said Pianese, who collects a combined $174,769 with his other jobs as North Bergen business administrator and as a consultant for the North Bergen Municipal Utilities Authority.

The practice is under fire from Republicans and reformers who are seeking more government efficiency and who want to trim the state budget.

"We need reform. We are going to keep pushing for one job, one pension," said Republican state Sen. William Gormley, who sits on the committee that is looking into pension reform.

"I would guess that Hudson County sits near the top of the list. It has a long tradition in the state and Hague would be proud," Gormley said. "Until we change the system, people all over the country are going to think of New Jersey as an HBO show on Sunday night, and that's an insult to the good people of the state."

New Jersey has about 514,000 employees contributing to the pension fund, 210,000 retired employees receiving pensions and 358,000 active and retired workers receiving health benefits, according to state officials.

The state still owes $5.5 billion in pension contributions from previous years and officials say that it needs another $24 billion to make the asset fully funded.

By 2010, the state's Division of Pensions and Benefits estimates, benefits costs for employees and retirees will take up 21 percent of state spending.

Professionals who work part-time for multiple government bodies, from towns to parking authorities, receive pension rights from each one. Retirement benefits are not billed directly to local taxpayers, but they impact the state budget.

According to the list recently released, the state's top 50 earners qualify for pensions ranging from $40,000 to more than $135,000.

Herbert Klitzner, for example, attorney for North Bergen Township and the Union City Board of Education, makes $218,326 annually and would be eligible for a hefty pension.

Klitzner recently told the New York Times that "You can make more money as a lawyer in private practice, but you make it up with the benefits."

Sal Bonaccorsi, as another example, has a combined $203,286 salary serving as the tax assessor in Hoboken, Union City and West New York.