Pension cuts head to court

On June 25th, oral arguments will be heard by Mercer County Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson for a lawsuit brought by the NJSP union.  Judge Jacobson said she would decide whether Christie's plan violates the 2010 pension law that Governor Christie himself passed.  This will be a major challenge to Governor Christies plan to skip a huge pension payment for both this and next fiscal years.  Governor Christie said he needs to use the money to solve a budget crisis.

The Governor is planning on taking $900 million through an executive order he signed last month, and an additional $1.5 billion for the next financial year (which begins in 3 weeks).  Christie said the state constitution requires a balanced budget every year, and this money is needed to prevent huge cuts to hospitals or schools, or major tax hikes.  However, his failure to make the pension payments violates a law he created during his first term.  It also violates a section of the NJ state constitution that states, in part, "the Legislature shall not pass any bill...impairing the obligations of contracts".

The Governor has stated that failure to make these payments is fiscally irresponsible and taking the pension money was a "regrettable move", but the state can't afford to keep paying public workers the benefits they currently get. Lets not forget that this is the same Governor that just gave many of his own staff raises as high at 23%, while at the same time he requires others to stay under the 2% cap.  How can he call one thing fiscally irresponsible, but give huge raises at the same time? 

New Jerseys Moody's credit rating has been downgraded several times since Christie has been in office.  Fee's in New Jersey have skyrocketed.  The cost to register as a corporation fifteen years ago was $50 per year.  Today it is $500 per year; a 10-fold increase.  Motor vehicle fees have quadrupled in the past fifteen years.  These are not considered "taxes", so there is not much in the way of public outcry.  Is there really a difference between a state fee and a tax?  No.  When there is a shortage of money, you would think the Governor would created a solid tax base from businesses that are seeking to come to New Jersey, but he does the exact opposite.  Since 2010, the state has doled out over 2 billion dollars in incentives to corporations and developers.  Compare that number with the $1.5 billion given out in incentives during the prior 10 years. That money could have been used to our benefit, not to the benefit of corporations and developers.

Never in the history of our state has our leadership been so poor.  Lies, deceptions, double-speak, willfully not following the law, and so on and so on...

Judge Mary Jacobson, please make the right decision, and put our pension fund money where it was meant to be.







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Bridge-gate versus Pension-gate. Pension is a scandal, not a crisis.

Bridge-gate has taken on a life of its own.  The scandal surrounding the lane closures to the GW bridge has lead to firings, subpoenas, hearings, news headlines, drops in the Governor's popularity poll, and possibly (and hopefully) a severely diminished chance of the fat man becoming our next President.  And over what?  Lane closures and lies.  Mainly lies, since that is where the investigation seems to be surrounding.  Lies.  Did the Governor lie or not? 

I can answer that succulently.  Yes he did lie.  Did he lie about the bridge scandal?  That one I can't answer for sure, but I can answer for sure that he did lie about the New Jersey pension scandal.  Did I say scandal?  Odd, nobody else did.  It's called a "crisis" instead of a scandal.  But really it is a scandal.  If the Governor lying about his knowledge of the lane closures is considered a scandal, then the pension "crisis" is surely a scandal.  The Governor lied to the police and fire unions, putting words in writing, and then did the opposite.  Can you call this anything other than a lie?  Sure.  How about a "fabrication", or he was "just kidding" when he promised in writing not to change the pension of current or retired police and fire union members.

If there is so much fuss about the Governor possibly lying to the public about his part in the lane closures on the GW bridge, where we don't know for sure if he lied, then why is there no fuss about the fact that he clearly lied about the pension?  Why is there no Assembly committee hearings and subpoenas about this like there are for the lane closures?   

The bridge scandal, or "bridge-gate" as it is known as, began August 13, 2013 with an email exchange.  On September 9th, two of three access lanes are shut for a "traffic study" that never was.  We all know the story from there.  But do you know the story of the pension scandal?  You probably know some, since the Governor has been shoving it down the publics throats for years.  The only thing is, you are only hearing what he is saying, which may or may not be the truth.  Personally, I say it is not the truth. 

The lane closures took about four hours from beginning to end.  People were inconvenienced; some a little and some much more.  But it only lasted four hours.  The pension scandal, which I call "pension-gate", has been happening for decades, ever since Governor Whitman put her grubby little paws into the well funded police & fire pension fund, removed billions of dollars, and used this money for her own agenda.  The money was never put back, and each and every Governor since her has done the same.  Now the pension system is having major problems.

Pension-gate has affected thousands upon thousands, and cost people countless dollars.  It has forced current officers to pay more into their pension, eliminated the cost of living increases for retired officers, and forced current officers to also pay for a portion of their medical insurance, when for decades the good benefits were the trade off for lower pay.  I know some of you reading this might think "so what?  I pay for my medical insurance, why shouldn't they?"  Primarily because its a change of the rules mid-stream to fix a problem they didn't create.  I have no problem if someone takes a job knowing what the rules are; knowing they will be paying a portion of their medical insurance.  But changing the rules for current employees to fix a problem created by someone else is unjust.  The police and fire unions did not cause this problem, even if the media wants you to believe they did.  The union members are not "greedy and evil", but have paid their dues without so much as a hiccup.  The government has not.  Billions in missed pension payments were not the fault of the unions, but were the fault of the Governor.  Lets not forget the 2% cap the Governor put on pay increases, while at the same time he gave many of his staff raises of up to 23% (http://www.northjersey.com/news/christie-staffers-get-hefty-pay-increases-as-other-areas-face-cuts-1.1025934).

The NJEA is taking some action.  Take just a minute to read this link: http://www.njea.org/news/2014-05-22/take-action-to-protect-your-pension.  Click the appropriate box for the type of pension you are in and submit as required.  It only takes a minute.  I have nothing to do with this, but felt it was a step in the right direction. 

More action will be needed.  More attention needs to be put on the fact that this is a scandal, not a crisis. 

Thoughts?  Comments?

More bad news for the pension system - and more double speak by our Governor

New Jersey can't seem to keep out of the news lately.  I guess its because we have a Governor that has his sights set on a national stage.  Governor Christie is weeks away from announcing his proposal to overhaul our states pension and retiree health benefits plan.  The rumor mill is swirling that it might be some type of "hybrid" model that would reduce the defined benefit payout, as well as something like a 401k plan.  He keeps saying that the current system can't be sustained.  The reason he believes this is because he allowed towns to skip their required pension matching payments, and he also failed to make the states full pension contribution.  Although three years ago, Governor Christie himself passed a law requiring the pension payment, he decided to ignore it in order to use the money to balance the states budget.  This is just another example of his ability to talk from both sides of his mouth.  He touted this law when it was being proposed in order to (again) gain support of the police and fire unions.  "Hey, look at me, I'm fixing your problem.  I'm your friend".  Once again he lied.  He did not fix the problem.  His own law that he pushed through was ignored. 

New Jersey has already eliminated the "COLA" (Cost of Living Increases); a savings of $74 billion over 30 years according to our Governor.  He also touted another savings of $48 billion by requiring employees to pay more toward their pensions, reducing pensions for those taking early retirement, and raising the retirement age from 62 to 65.  A total savings of $112 Billion!  What's next?  Reducing all officers pay to minimum wage?  Eliminating health benefits entirely?  Health benefits is one main reason many officers joined the ranks of police and fire, or became public school teachers.

Here is a little history lesson for the uninformed. As recently as the 1980's, police officer and firefighters were relatively paid poorly compared to the private industry.  They were considered blue collar and non-professional.  In order to induce people to join the ranks of police and fire with low pay, the carrot that was dangled in front of the was good benefits.  Seemed like a fair trade off at the time.  The "problem" is that over the years, contracts regularly gave pay increases of 3-5% per year, and sometimes more.  Over time, those poor paying jobs became good paying jobs, and eventually they became very good paying jobs.  The benefits were still good, so now you have officers making good money and getting good benefits.  Along with the higher pay and benefits came the increased professionalism.  Being a police officer changed from being a "job" to being a "career".  With professionalism came better educated officers.  No longer were high school diploma's the minimum requirement.  College degrees became the norm; if not for hiring at least for promotions.  College degrees included Masters degrees and even higher over time.  It was not uncommon for a majority of officers on a department to hold college degree of one type or another.  Criminal Justice majors became more common.  Twenty-five years later, the person entering law enforcement in New Jersey was college educated who's goal it was to become a professional police officer.  Good pay and good benefits brought good candidates, who became good police officers.  Now, both the pay and benefits are good.

Unfortunately, the COST of these benefits have skyrocketed.  The insurance companies have substantially increased the cost the governments pay in order to keep the benefits as required by contracts.  Why is the government not targeting the insurance companies and asking why they have tripled the cost for the same benefits?  Good question.  I'd love to know that answer.  I can surmise that one reason is that the insurance lobby is strong.  Very strong.  Much stronger than any police and fire or teachers union in New Jersey.  They are national companies with deep pockets in Washington.  Who is an easier target?   The police, fire and teachers.  Now Governor Christie has made us look like the bad guys.  We are the reason for all this mess. "Look at those greedy public servants" he can say, and the public listens.  Governor Christie isn't stupid.  He's been voted into office twice and knows a thing or two about word play.

Word play.  Governor Christie loves this.  A perfect example was recently brought to light that makes this perfectly clear.   A perfect example of the governors double speak is when he was pushing for a tax cut in 2012.  The Governor said the state could afford the tax cut because of positive economic growth.  Dr. David Rosen, the Chief Budget officer for the States office of legislative service disagreed.  The Governor responded by lambasting Dr. Rosen and calling him "the Dr. Kevorkian of the numbers".  The Governor said the numbers were good enough for a tax cut, and said "Why would anybody with a functioning brain believe this guy?" about Dr. Rosen, who by the way has a reputation for being right more than being wrong.  Later, when questioned by our states terrible financial crisis, Christie blames Dr. Rosen, saying that he "just got it wrong".

Recap: Christie ignores his Chief Budget Officer in 2012, calling him "the Dr. Kevorkian of the numbers" and "why would anybody with a functioning brain believe this guy".  When questioned by a reporter about our states terrible financial crisis, he blames this same person that he ignored two years earlier.

Another example of his word play and talking out of both sides of his mouth.  While facing an unexpected $2.75 billion budget gap over the next 13 months, which Christie is trying to close by delaying payments to the state’s pension fund, many on his staff have received raises of 23%!  Yes, you read that right, twenty-three percent (http://nj1015.com/some-christie-staff-members-get-large-pay-raises/).

According to NorthJersey.com, the raises come as Christie is withholding more than $2.4 billion in payments to the state pension fund because of revenue shortfalls. And Christie has delayed a property-tax relief program that averages about $500 for seniors and some families.  And the raises to the governor’s staff appear to have happened around the same time Christie vetoed the minutes of the commission that oversees the Pinelands after its members voted to increase the budget for its staff by 5 percent. Christie castigated the commissioners and said the decision was a “conscious disregard of the fiscal realities".

I'm sorry, I think I went a bit off topic there, but every time I think about how the Governor screwed the people who protect and educate the public, while being a two-faced politician, I get angrier and angrier.  Bottom line?  As time goes by, the Governor is going to continue to lie and continue to blame the unions for problems created and perpetuated by our elected officials. 

Comments?  Thoughts?  Ideas?