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So far 6 of 7 commissioners and CEO ousted and 11 others fired.

Gov. Chris Christie Monday continued the cleanup of the scandal-plagued Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission with the announcement that 70 employees — or 12 percent of the agency's workforce — have been fired.

The governor also announced that all spending on contracted lawyers is frozen.

In announcing the firings at the Statehouse, Christie, a Republican, again called on the Democratic-controlled Legislature to give him veto power over the Newark-based Sewerage Commission and other sewage and water authorities. Bills that would give him the power are stalled in the Legislature.

"I cannot imagine that the PVSC is the only place in New Jersey where this is happening," Christie told reporters.

The governor said the firings when combined with other budget cuts will save $10 million in salary and benefits that he foresees will result in property tax relief for the 1.3 million residents in the 48 cities and towns in Essex, Bergen, Passaic and Hudson counties which are served by the commission.

Christie ousted six of the agency's seven commissioners two weeks ago after the latest details of nepotism, patronage and insider deals for the politically connected were made public by The Star-Ledger of Newark.

"Instead of taking steps to reform the commission, the members of the board who we terminated over a week ago repeatedly engaged in a pattern of abuse," Christie told reporters.

Last week, three high-ranking PVSC managers were arrested on charges of official misconduct in connection with allegations that they used agency workers to perform repairs and improvements on their homes while they were supposed to be at work.

The chief financial officer resigned last week and 11 others — one the wife of a commissioner as well as a Garfield councilman who was making a six-figure salary — were fired.

The PVSC has a history as a political patronage dumping ground. The Star-Ledger found a payroll filled with friends and relatives of those with political connections, and lucrative, no-bid contracts that were awarded to political insiders.

Soon after taking office last year, Christie ousted the commission's director, Bryan Christiansen, a former mayor of Edgewater, who was paid more than $313,000 a year. The governor then pressured the commissioners to hire former Somerset County prosecutor Wayne Forrest as the new director.

"The commissioners previously in charge at PVSC perpetuated an endless cycle of misuse of power through unethical hiring practices, gratuitous perks and conflicts of interest, leading to potentially criminal abuses inside the agency," Christie said. "Those days are over, and the cleanup is in full force under the authority of a proven, ethical and effective executive director. To make it a permanent and effective clean sweep, I and subsequent governors must have the authority of veto power over this agency.

"The now-former board of commissioners was either resistant to change or in self-serving denial about the mess they created. The reason for that is obvious: they had no one to answer to or be accountable to. It is now crystal clear that the only way to truly reform the bad practices and bad acts at the PVSC is to start from scratch."

Chrsitie said that he will not consider new nominees to replace the resigned commissioners until the Legislature grants him veto power over the commission. The governor also said he believes veto power should be extended to other sewerage authorities in the state and specifically to the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission.

Christie said that in the past few weeks, Forrest coordinated with the State Police a review of security procedures and personnel with renewed focus on law enforcement training. The governor said he issued a directive rolling back salaries for all individuals making over $100,000 to December 2009, with $1.4 million in raw salary saved as a result. He said the commission has been reorganized into three departments, operations, engineering, and administration. He said the "Special Services" department," which was the seed at the heart of the patronage pit," was eliminated.

— TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM