Gingersnap
01-18-2011, 11:36 AM
Christie orders Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission to explain friends, family in payroll records
Published: Tuesday, January 18, 2011, 8:55 AM Updated: Tuesday, January 18, 2011, 11:30 AM
Ted Sherman/The Star-Ledger By Ted Sherman/The Star-Ledger
http://i51.tinypic.com/i4pibl.jpg
Commissioner Frank Calandriello, right, talks to fellow commissioner William F. Flynn, left, Wayne Forrest, the executive director for PVSC, Anthony J. Luna, the chairman of PVSC and Carl Czaplicki Jr., the vice chairman of PVSC during a public meeting. The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission is an obscure agency whose payroll is swollen with the friends and family of those with political clout, while records show the funneling of thousands of dollars in no-bid contracts to political insiders.
PASSAIC COUTY — Gov. Chris Christie has given the commissioners of the state’s largest sewerage authority seven days to explain why they appear to be using their agency as a "piggy bank" for friends and family, or he will likely demand all seven resign.
Christie said his chief counsel, Jeff Chiesa, will be sending out letters later today on the governor’s behalf to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners, requesting they list all hires they had been involved with; account for all family members they have on the payroll; provide records of all raises that were authorized, and a justification for each.
"My initial inclination would have been to demand resignations, but fairness would dictate allowing them seven days to explain themselves," said the governor bluntly.
The action came a day after a report in The Sunday Star-Ledger, which found widespread financial abuse and favoritism within the PVSC, including well-paying jobs for brothers, wives, children and in-laws; sweetheart deals for insiders; lucrative, no-bid consulting contracts, and lavish travel expenditures.
In an unusual public rebuke for a state agency, Christie called the PSVC "a remnant of New Jersey that should be part of our embarrassing past." At the same time, he urged the Legislature to give him veto power over the troubled authority, which operates one of the largest sewage treatment plants in the country.
"They appear to be using this place as a familial piggy bank to take care of their friends, relatives and political associates," declared the governor. "If this doesn’t convince the Legislature that, at a minimum, I need veto authority over the commission, I don’t know what will."
Unlike most other public authorities in New Jersey, the PVSC — which has a $161 million budget — faces no state review of its spending. The governor also cannot act to reverse any of its actions.
The Star-Ledger examination found the agency had handed out costly contracts to benefit the communities of individual commissioners. Other documents obtained under the Open Public Records Act found the commissioners kept a scorecard to keep track of the jobs they each had to give out, which were known as the "commissioners’ rounds."
Numbered like NFL draft round choices, the internal records showed one commissioner picked his daughter-in-law when his turn came. Another picked his wife. Others routinely hired those with ties to elected officials.
NJ Com (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/01/passaic_valley_sewerage_commis_2.html)
Published: Tuesday, January 18, 2011, 8:55 AM Updated: Tuesday, January 18, 2011, 11:30 AM
Ted Sherman/The Star-Ledger By Ted Sherman/The Star-Ledger
http://i51.tinypic.com/i4pibl.jpg
Commissioner Frank Calandriello, right, talks to fellow commissioner William F. Flynn, left, Wayne Forrest, the executive director for PVSC, Anthony J. Luna, the chairman of PVSC and Carl Czaplicki Jr., the vice chairman of PVSC during a public meeting. The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission is an obscure agency whose payroll is swollen with the friends and family of those with political clout, while records show the funneling of thousands of dollars in no-bid contracts to political insiders.
PASSAIC COUTY — Gov. Chris Christie has given the commissioners of the state’s largest sewerage authority seven days to explain why they appear to be using their agency as a "piggy bank" for friends and family, or he will likely demand all seven resign.
Christie said his chief counsel, Jeff Chiesa, will be sending out letters later today on the governor’s behalf to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners, requesting they list all hires they had been involved with; account for all family members they have on the payroll; provide records of all raises that were authorized, and a justification for each.
"My initial inclination would have been to demand resignations, but fairness would dictate allowing them seven days to explain themselves," said the governor bluntly.
The action came a day after a report in The Sunday Star-Ledger, which found widespread financial abuse and favoritism within the PVSC, including well-paying jobs for brothers, wives, children and in-laws; sweetheart deals for insiders; lucrative, no-bid consulting contracts, and lavish travel expenditures.
In an unusual public rebuke for a state agency, Christie called the PSVC "a remnant of New Jersey that should be part of our embarrassing past." At the same time, he urged the Legislature to give him veto power over the troubled authority, which operates one of the largest sewage treatment plants in the country.
"They appear to be using this place as a familial piggy bank to take care of their friends, relatives and political associates," declared the governor. "If this doesn’t convince the Legislature that, at a minimum, I need veto authority over the commission, I don’t know what will."
Unlike most other public authorities in New Jersey, the PVSC — which has a $161 million budget — faces no state review of its spending. The governor also cannot act to reverse any of its actions.
The Star-Ledger examination found the agency had handed out costly contracts to benefit the communities of individual commissioners. Other documents obtained under the Open Public Records Act found the commissioners kept a scorecard to keep track of the jobs they each had to give out, which were known as the "commissioners’ rounds."
Numbered like NFL draft round choices, the internal records showed one commissioner picked his daughter-in-law when his turn came. Another picked his wife. Others routinely hired those with ties to elected officials.
NJ Com (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/01/passaic_valley_sewerage_commis_2.html)