The controversy over Brookdale Community College President Peter Burnham’s compensation and spending habits has given Democratic Freeholder Amy Mallet an issue to run on in her reelection bid. Mallet has picked up the ball and run with it.
The Brookdale issue should be a positive for Republicans. Republican Freeholder John Curley first identified and raised the issue which led to Burnham’s suspension last week. But while Mallet has gotten out front with the issue by calling for college chairman Howard Birdsall’s resignation and calling for term limits for Brookdale trustees, Republican Freeholder Lillian Burry, who is also up for reelection this year, has been far less aggressive.
Mallet has made headlines, here, here and here calling for Birdsall’s resignation and greater oversight of the Brookdale board, while Burry has been supportive of the board.
Burry told the Asbury Park Press, “At this point they (the Brookdale trustees) need our support,” Burry said, adding that the board of trustees moved swiftly to address the situation.
Seriously Lillian? They should have moved swiftly. But how long has this been going on? Where else in county government is excessive spending going on? The Library? The Park System? Nursing homes? The vocational school system?
The Brookdale trustees should be supported in this difficult time….by their friends and families….not by a Freeholder who is charged by the taxpayers with overseeing government operations and making sure our dollars are spent prudently.
Burry needs to decide who she is; friend or Freeholder. If she’s a friend, she needs to get out of the way and let someone else take her spot on the GOP ticket this year. If she is a Freeholder, she needs to step up her game. Over the last couple of weeks Burry gave Mallet’s career new life and Mallet is making the most of it.
Prior to the Brookdale scandal, few political observers gave Mallet much of a chance at reelection. Now she is in the game. This could lead to stronger Democrats stepping up to run for county and legislative office. It could make it easier for the Democrats to raise money. It could make what was looking to be a boring Republican rout this year become a competive election season.
Anna Little told NJ.com’s The Auditorthat she is thinking of challenging U.S. Senator Robert Menendez rather than Congressman Frank Pallone in 2012:
Tea party darling Anna Little has made no secret that she wants to challenge U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th Dist.) again in 2012. But Little told The Auditor she is thinking about setting her sights even higher by going after Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez next year.
“There are a lot of people pushing me to do it,” said Little, who upset a millionaire Republican in last year’s 6th District congressional primary, but lost the general election to Pallone. “It’s has been suggested I consider a statewide Senate race. I have not ruled that out, but right now I’m just focused on Pallone,” she said.
It is telling that there are no 6th district Tea Party activists quoted by either The Auditor or Hurlbut. Those who know Little best in the Tea Party movement don’t consider her a darling. Disappointment, distraction and destructive is how Little is considered by many local Tea Party leaders and activists now. What is left of “Anna’s Army” is little more than a platoon.
It doesn’t matter what office Little seeks in 2012. The only way she gets nominated next year for any office higher than Councilwoman in Highlands is if no one else wants the nomination. The Monmouth and Union County GOP leadership are not happy with her. The local Tea Parties say she will have no leg up over any other candidate in 2012 as they will consider all candidates before granting the Tea Party seal of approval.
The news out of Brookdale yesterday is encouraging, especially if it results in our elected officials looking for wasteful and abusive spending in other areas of government like the light that Governor Christie is shining on the Independent Authorities throughout the state. However there is one tidbit of information coming from the shake up in Lincroft that really sticks in my craw.
Dr. William Toms, the retired State Police Major who is taking over as Acting President of Brookdale on Monday, is collecting a state pension of $84, 293.40 per year. Toms is 47 years old, according to the Asbury Park Press.
47 years old and the tax payers of the State of New Jersey are paying him $84,293.40 per year for the rest of his life and he doesn’t have to show up for work.
Insanity.
I don’t mean to single out Toms. He’s just the current glaring example of an out of control pension and benefits we are paying our retirees. There are thousands of examples. Most of my readers can probably think of two or three people who either are or will benefit from this system right of the top of their heads.
Senators Jennifer Beck and Steve Oroho have proposed legislation that if enacted would stop retirees from collecting a pension and a government pay check. Even if their bill, S-2716 is enacted, which is highly doubtful given all the legislators and their friends and family who are in the system, the bill doesn’t go far enough. Not nearly far enough.
Pensions should not be like a lottery payoff. Pension should be deferred compensation for a job well done over a lifetime. They should sustain a retired employee and his/her spouse during their “golden years” when they are too old to work.
The average 47 year old is in his/her prime earning years. Such a person doesn’t need be sustained for another 10, 15, 20 or 30 years. This system is insane. It is unsustainable.
In the private sector, if an employee and their employer have saved and invested for their retirement years in a 401K type program and IRAs, the employee can’t make withdrawals from those retirement accounts before age 59 1/2 without paying tax penalties. There ought to be similar age restrictions for collecting on government pensions.
Collecting on government pensions ought to be age restricted. 59 1/2 is probably to young, but a political argument could be made for it given the federal restrictions on private retirement account withdrawals. And pension payments should be offset by any employment income, not just government employment income as the Beck/Oroho bill proposes.
Analysis marks pension liabilities as root of state budget crisis
WASHINGTON, DC- The nation’s top state budget watchdog, State Budget Solutions, released a report on this week demonstrating the dramatic extent of unfunded liabilities facing the state government public employee pension funds- ranging from $1 trillion to $2.8 trillion dollars depending on the study used in the analysis. “This report shows that states have been fooling the public and the federal government for years,” said Bryan Leonard, author of the study. “The breadth and depth of the public pension crisis is finally coming to light and the numbers clearly speak for themselves.”
The analysis provides comprehensive data from three studies to demonstrate a consensus about the scale of the unfunded pension crisis spreading across the nation, just as public employees rally against proposed reforms in wages and benefits in states like Wisconsin and Ohio. “It’s clear that this study reveals that the increasing costs of supporting the unfunded liability that is needed to pay government employee pensions is the real driver of the budget crises in the states,” said Bob Williams, President of State Budget Solutions. “Our report demonstrates that legislators and governors need to come to grips with the pension funding crisis or it will put their states in fiscal peril for decades.”
According to the study, states with the largest pension liabilities are California, Illinois, New Jersey, and Ohio. State governments use a special accounting method, known as GASB, which differs from that of the private sector. “Under GASB, government pension funds have not accurately portrayed the real value the pension funds. If states were required to use private sector accounting rules, like those used in the Novy-Marx & Rauh studies, the liabilities are much more dramatic,” said Williams.
A full state-by-state analysis of the public employee pension unfunded liability can be found at statebudgetsolutions.org.
Middletown—Senator Joe Kyrillos (R-Monmouth/Middlesex) today noted the Monmouth County Freeholders swift disciplinary action against workers involved in last week’s ‘sick-out’ of SCAT bus drivers:
“The Freeholders did the right thing by immediately suspending three individuals who called out sick on Friday, February 25th- only to be caught on camera at a protest in Trenton,” Kyrillos said. “The actions of these employees and others, who organized a disruption of bus service endangered the well-being of SCAT’s developmentally disabled and elderly clients. It is my hope that county officials will summarily be able to ascertain if others were absent without proper excuse and take appropriate action.”
Kyrillos also said the incident exemplifies the urgent need for civil service reform. “The fact that the civil service system may drag out the termination process for these employees is ludicrous,” Kyrillos said. “While some personnel matters are complex, getting caught on film being involved in an organized ‘sick-out’ and lying to your employer should be grounds for immediate termination. The fact that the system protects these employees from being fired on the spot, and may cost taxpayers thousands in legal proceedings, is reason enough to reform civil service laws.”
Brookdale College President Peter Burnham has been suspended without pay due to a review of expenses that “revealed significant expenses and reimbursements associated with the President’s Office budget that may not be directly connected to Brookdale or are contrary to Brookdale’s adopted policies governing travel, mileage, and other reimbursable expenses,” according to a news release posted on the college’s website.
Dr. William Toms, PhD, a retired State Police investigator, has been appointed Acting President of the community college.
Additionally, the Board of Trustees hire an independent auditor to investigate all expenditures made from the President’s Office budget, including all expenses and reimbursements. The audit is due by the end of March and will cost no more than $12,500.
“We are conducting a comprehensive audit of the President’s Office and will release to the public thefindings as soon as we can.This is a public institution and everyone from our Freeholders to our faculty to our taxpayers deserve answers,” said Howard Birdsall, Chairman of Brookdale’s Board of Trustees.
“Our highest obligation is to the truth and Dr. Toms is going to lead a very open and transparent process that gets us the answers we need.If something happened that shouldn’t have happened, we want to know what it was, how it happened, and how to prevent it from happening again.Dr. Toms has built an outstanding record of achievement during his career and has the perfect skill set to lead Brookdale through the challenges we face,” said Birdsall.
Freeholder John Curley first raised the issue of Burnham’s compensation and spending in a statement to MoreMonmouthMusings on February 16th.
”While I am appalled at the contract Dr. Burnham was given, I can’t help but wonder what other extravagances are in that budget,” said Curley, liaison to Brookdale. “It’s time we go through Brookdale’s budget line by line to see not just what the president is spending, but the other departments as well. A good hard look at waste in all public colleges and universities is long overdue.”
Yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling allowing members of the Westboro Baptist Church to “protest” at military funerals has left many people angry and distressed. The disrespectful, cruel, and outrageous demonstrations are offensive and hurtful in the extreme and even among those who defend the court’s decision; it’s hard to find anyone who defends the actions of this so-called church.
But these protests do have a positive side. Throughout the country, people have come together to honor the fallen and keep these protests away from the families of our soldiers. The unintended consequence of Westboro’s protests is that it has brought together patriots and volunteers to stand up for their country and those brave men and women who die defending it.
Groups like the Patriot Guard Riders, the Blue Knights, the Legion Riders, and Rolling Thunder, working nationally and with local organizations, meet with members of the military, local police, and family to make sure that these protestors can neither be seen nor heard by mourners as they lay their loved ones to rest.
Lining the streets with motorcycles, making flag lines, and escorting processions, these people stand between the families of our heroes and the ugliness of protestors like those from Westboro. Dedicated to a non-violent means of keeping protestors from disturbing families at these difficult times, volunteers do not confront protestors. In order to shield mourners, according to the Patriot Guard Riders website, members “simply hold or flags with our backs to the protestors. We, in no way, engage the protestor either verbally or physically. We may sing, rev our engines or say the Pledge of Allegiance…”
The Patriot Guard Riders started in Kansas in 2005 as a reaction to Westboro’s protests. They, like many other groups, only ride with permission of the family, and their primary goal is to show respect to our fallen soldiers. When you meet these people, you can’t help but be impressed by their sense of duty. Their patriotism is palpable, and their dedication unmatched. They came together largely because of Westboro. This ruling will help keep them together.
Westboro’s protests will also keep our soldier’s funerals in the news. Forgetting that we are at war can be too easy in a news cycle that leads with Charlie Sheen. So when the news is covering the outrage of Westboro’s demonstrations, we should take time to reflect on the fallen and comfort in knowing that groups like the Patriot Guard Riders are standing for those who stood for us.
By Mayor Michael J. Mahon, Oceanport and Mayor Janet W. Tucci, West Long Branch
On behalf of the Governing Body of our respective communities, we are proud to announce a shared service agreement to provide emergency communications & dispatch services in a joint operation hosted by the West Long Branch Police in the their recently constructed state of the art facility on Broadway. Oceanport will pay West Long Branch $150,000 annually, cutting current annual costs for local dispatch by nearly 50% for each community. Annual increases of 2% are included in the agreement with the boroughs projecting a joint savings of $1.3 Million over the initial five (5) year term.
Leading the local effort has been a Joint Public Safety Committee with representatives from each municipality. Representing Oceanport has been Mayor Michael J. Mahon, Council Members Jay Briscione (now John W. Ibex) & William Johnson along with Police Chief Harold Sutton and Borough Administrator Kimberly A. Jungfer. Representing West Long Branch has been Mayor Janet W. Tucci, Council President Barbara Ruane, Council Members Christopher Neyhart and J. Thomas DeBruin along with Police Chief Arthur A. Cosentino, Captain Larry Mihlon and Borough Administrator John J. Kennedy.
Today marks the beginning of a cooperative effort to reduce the cost of essential services on local taxpayers and meet the requirements of the 2% Cap Law for both borough’s in their 2011 budget. This agreement establishes a single dispatch center in West Long Branch providing public safety communications for two police departments working together on a single frequency. At the same time, it provides a communications console in Oceanport as a back up and for local emergency operations. Thanks are due to the entire Oceanport and West Long Branch Council’s for supporting the efforts of the Joint Committee.
West Long Branch and Oceanport share history and a special relationship with each other dating back to our origins as municipalities and includes regional public schools, recreation programs, environmental advocacy and mutual aid for fire and first aid. Our focus on shared dispatch services as a means to controlling property taxes marks a time in New Jersey where the emphasis on doing more with less is ever present. This effort began in 2008 with the first 50% reduction in state aid for municipalities of less than 10,000 residents. Mayors Tucci and Mahon echoed the same concerns and encouraged our governing bodies to examine every opportunity to match services. Together we have forged this partnership to make the financial and technological resources available, and bring about a solution that protects our Public Safety personnel and serves our residents. Today, the reality is Oceanport and West Long Branch are in this together. And together we have worked, and will continue to work on completing this project. Discussions on merging or sharing other services are being studied.
Along the way we have needed the support and cooperation of the Police Departments; Chief Arthur Cosentino and Captain Larry Mihlon accompanied by Chief Harold Sutton and Captain Mauro Baldanza (Ret.). Their support and professionalism will determine our mutual success and we are depending on their continued commitment to this effort. The Joint Public Safety Committee will play a continuing role in accordance with the Inter Local Agreement. The next phase has already begun; equipment and software are being installed, and staff is being reduced through attrition or transfer. Joint dispatch operations are set to begin as early as April 1, 2011. Residents won’t notice a difference and will continue to dial 9-1-1 for emergencies and use the current non-emergency numbers for other police business
Posted: March 2nd, 2011 | Author:Art Gallagher | Filed under:Chris Christie | Tags:Chris Christie | Comments Off on Correction? Did Christie say he “will not” or “may not” be governor in 2014?
