newjerseynewsroom.com

Warns he'll demand resignation of the 7 commissioners

Gov. Chris Christie Tuesday ordered the seven commissioners of the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission to explain within seven days why they appear to be using their agency as a job bank for family and friends.

The governor said that if he is not satisfied with the response, he will likely demand they all resign.

Jeff Chiesa, Christie's chief counsel, sent letters Tuesday to the commissioners, demanding they list all hires they have been involved with, account for all family members 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," the governor told The Star-Ledger of Newark.

The Newark-based commission has been a pirates' den of political cronyism and nepotism going back to at least the 1960's.

Christie acted a day after a report in The 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.

Christie called the PSVC "a remnant of New Jersey that should be part of our embarrassing past." He also said he wants the Legislature to give him veto power over the 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," Christie told The Star-Ledger. "If this doesn't convince the Legislature that, at a minimum, I need veto authority over the commission, I don't know what will."

The authority — 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 found that at least 85 of Passaic Valley's 567 employees were found to be making more than $100,000, while three are paid more than $200,000, according to the newspaper's findings. At the top of the list was Anthony Ardis, another former commissioner and one-time congressional aide, who is getting paid $220,443 and was given a car, a high-end Ford Expedition SUV that sells for more than $34,000.

"I think it would be very hard to justify hiring your wife and brother, or hiring commissioners to high-paid positions — whether it's Mr. Ardis or Mr. Pengitore," the governor told The Star-Ledger. "I can hardly see the justification for the salaries and cars for folks that are helping us handle sewage."

The commission, created by the Legislature in 1902, is responsible for about a quarter of all the wastewater generated in New Jersey — about 330 million gallons per day — handling the sewage from 48 member municipalities in Passaic, Bergen, Essex and Hudson counties, including Newark and Jersey City.

Christie's action quickly garnered the support of state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen).

"I applaud Governor Christie for taking a tough stance against corruption at the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission," Weinberg said. "The organization has been used as a patronage pit for politically-connected individuals to inflate their salaries on the taxpayer-dime, and it's time for the feeding frenzy to come to an end.

"However, the governor can't single-handedly change the culture of corruption at the PVSC," the senator said. "Early in his term, the governor forced out ethically-challenged Executive Director Bryan Christiansen, and replaced him with his own appointment, former Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest. A year later, the same sort of political shenanigans which took place under Christiansen are still taking place under the new regime. Now is the time for legislative action.

"I have sponsored bipartisan legislation to give the governor veto power over the minutes of rogue agencies like the PVSC," Weinberg added. "I look forward to working with my fellow legislators on both sides of the political divide to send this bill to Governor Christie, and take a necessary step to provide some long-overdue oversight over quasi-governmental organizations run amuck.

"Moving forward, I pledge to work with the governor to provide legislative support to his efforts to clean up the PVSC and ensure that the agency puts public interest ahead of private gain for the commissioners appointed to lead it. We can no longer ignore such flagrant abuse of taxpayers' money, and must provide safeguards to drag this ‘shadow government' authority into the light of public scrutiny."

— TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM