School chiefs sure
get super salaries
Bob Ingle, Commentary
thnt.com Online, October 15, 2006
It was a week that demonstrated how
things really work in New Jersey.
The state Department of Education posted on the Web a list of base salaries for
school administrators. It showed 11 topped $200,000, and many more weren't
far behind. What it didn't do was list names by the 1,518 amounts.
It also failed to include the fancy perks like cars and clothing allowances and
payouts for unused vacation and sick time.
Seven months ago the State Commission
of Investigation issued a report called "Taxpayers Beware" in which it revealed
hidden perks greatly inflated the value of school superintendents' compensation.
In the 71 districts the SCI checked, the average salary was $181,000 while the
actual compensation was worth $252,000 with the extra goodies.
The Education Department figures were from a survey taken Oct. 15, 2005.
It took a year to get them on the Web and — what a coincidence — it came out
just two days before Lucille Davy was up for Senate Judiciary Committee
confirmation as education commissioner.
The SCI gets an A+ for its work. Davy's education minions get an F for
being seven months late and several million dollars short.
Incidentally, where is that Attorney General's Office report on Lucille Davy's
husband, Jim? The AG's office was looking into whether Jim, sidekick to
former Gov. Jim McGreevey since McGreevey was Woodbridge mayor, used his state
office to promote a business he was starting after he left state government.
Do we have to wait a year for that, too?
And what about that investigation of the Board of Public Utilities — the outfit
with the secret $80 million bank account. That's the BPU headed by Jeanne
Fox, wife of Steve DiMicco, who is running Sen. Bob Menendez's campaign and also
ran Governor Corzine's and McGreevey's.
Assemblymen Herb Conaway, D-Burlington, and Jack Conners, D-Camden, have joined
in the call for Attorney General Stu Rabner to complete the investigation into
whether Sen. Martha Bark, R-Burlington, had no-show jobs. The statute of
limitations runs out soon.
Good riddance: Randy Primas quit as overseer of Camden's "revitalization,"
a $175 million failure left over from the McGreevey administration. Under
Primas, a tool of the South Jersey Democratic machine, Camden's budget deficit
went from $9 million to $47 million. Primas balked at signing a document
giving the state control of hiring and spending. Can't imagine why.
Color me shocked!: A list of the state's 200 most prolific job "tackers"
includes eight members of the Legislature that allegedly is trying to find ways
to lower our property taxes. Tacking is that treasured tradition of
stringing jobs together to run up the state pension, the pot of gold at the end
of every Jersey trough-swiller's rainbow.
Republicans have called for a ban on getting a pension from more than one job.
That was opposed by Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, who said an outright ban
goes too far. The chairman of the committee examining pensions and benefit
reforms, Scutari himself has more than one public job. He says that should
be allowed for people with expertise in their fields like health inspectors —
and lawyers, like himself.
By the way, under state law, lawmakers who have other public jobs have to be
paid for the job they're not doing back home while they're in Trenton — a gift
they gave themselves.
Bob Master of the Communications Workers of America, one of the state's largest
labor unions, testified before a committee examining state pensions that the CWA
was disturbed that the committee even exists. He says the Legislature has
no role in collective bargaining.
Deja vu: Linda Stender, Democratic candidate for Congress, is reminding
voters of a 2003 incident in a Georgetown bar usually frequented by college
students. Republican Mike Ferguson and a female student got into a
brouhaha over his official congressional pin about 1 a.m. Originally,
Ferguson, father of three, denied being there. Then, he said he gave the
pin to her to look at. The student says Ferguson gave it to her and was
aggressive.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who stands accused of trying to cover
up that Rep. Mark Foley/page mess, is scheduled to come to Jersey for a Rep.
Scott Garrett fundraiser. When word on that leaked, the event was moved to
an undisclosed location.
Bob Ingle is Trenton bureau chief for Gannett New Jersey
newspapers. He can be reached via e-mail at
bobingle@app.com
and heard on New Jersey 101.5 FM radio at 5 p.m.
Fridays. Join his blog at
www.app.com/gsbr.
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