newjerseynewsroom.com

Cites ‘flawed’ selection process and that position apparently not needed

Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday vetoed a portion of the minutes of the May 24 meeting of the New Jersey Educational Facilities Authority in which the board approved a new deputy director.

The governor declared that the selection process for the position was flawed since no application or interview process was conducted and that the board simply handpicked an employee — Barbara L. Cannon — for the post.

“The need for a deputy executive director at EFA, which has a staff of only fourteen employees, is questionable,” Christie wrote in his veto letter to James Poole, the authority‘s director. “The designation of important staff titles such as deputy executive director should be made only after the appropriate agency leaders have determined that the position is necessary and that candidates have been considered in a fair and consistent manner. Neither of those tasks was accomplished here.”

In the letter, the governor also pointed out that at the May 24 meeting, Poole stated there was no need for the position.

The veto is the twenty-third exercised by Christie in his effort to change spending, budgeting and management practices at New Jersey authorities, commissions and boards over which he has veto authority. He has proposed legislation that would expand his veto power to numerous other semi-autonomous state entities but the Democratic-controlled Legislature has not acted on the bill.

— TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM