Two other members have until today to quit or face removal proceedings
Commissioner Frank Calandriello, right, talks to fellow commissioner William F. Flynn, left, Wayne Forrest, the executive director for PVSC, Anthony J. Luna, the chairman of PVSC and Carl Czaplicki Jr., the vice chairman of PVSC during a public meeting. The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission is an obscure agency whose payroll is swollen with the friends and family of those with political clout, while records show the funneling of thousands of dollars in no-bid contracts to political insiders. PASSAIC COUNTY — Under pressure from the governor, four of seven members of the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners today said they would resign from the embattled agency.
Two others have until today to either quit or face removal proceedings, after Gov. Chris Christie — citing a litany of abuses at the authority — demanded they leave.
Charging that the commissioners repeatedly engaged in "unethical hiring practices, secured unwarranted perks and blatantly ignored conflicts of interest," the governor acted Tuesday to immediately suspend all six without pay. He signed an executive order vesting all necessary authority to run the PVSC in its executive director, former Somerset County prosecutor Wayne Forrest.
PVSC chairman Anthony J. Luna of Lodi has already submitted a letter of resignation, said Ralph Lamparello, a board attorney. Carl S. Czaplicki Jr. of Jersey City, the vice chairman, indicated that he would be submitting his resignation, and a spokesman for the governor said it was received tonight.
Thomas J. Powell of Harrison and William F. Flynn of Wayne both told PVSC officials that they would resign as well.
There was no immediate word from two other commissioners, Frank J. Calandriello, the mayor of Garfield, or Angelina M. Paserchia, a former mayor of Belleville.
"We’re not aware that they have made a decision yet," said Lamparello.
Kenneth J. Lucianin, a Democratic appointee of former Gov. Jon Corzine, was the lone commissioner spared, and remains the governor’s at large representative.
The commissioners have been under fire ever since a story in The Star-Ledger two weeks ago detailed a spoils system in which jobs and contracts at the state’s largest wastewater treatment plant went to the politically connected, including the hiring of wives, brothers, in-laws and children.
The PVSC — which operates the state’s largest sewage treatment plant — handles all the wastewater flushed by 48 communities in Bergen, Passaic, Hudson and Essex counties, including the cities of Newark and Jersey City.
At a town hall meeting in Middletown, yesterday, Christie stood firmly by his decision to fire nearly all the PVSC board members.
"It’s the shadow government," Christie said of commissions and authorities in general. "They are off budget, but spend billions of dollars of your money that they generate sometimes in taxes and sometimes through fees."
He added that it wasn’t a partisan issue, noting that he fired three Republicans and three Democrats.
"This is a pox on both houses," said the governor, pushing blame on members of the Senate, who he charged had "strong armed" governors into appointing "political hacks."
Last year, Christie tried to name two new members of the PVSC and found both effectively blocked through senatorial courtesy, the unwritten but strictly enforced rule giving state senators veto power over nominees from their legislative districts.
In September, the governor nominated Cedar Grove Township Manager Thomas Tucci to the PVSC as part of an effort to remake an authority he has called a "patronage pit."
Three Essex County senators — Democrats Nia Gill and Teresa Ruiz, and Republican Kevin O’Toole — quickly gave their approval. But Democratic Sens. Ronald Rice and Richard Codey would not.
Codey said he would not vote on an appointee to represent Essex County until someone from Newark was named.
Rice — who has introduced legislation that would place Passaic Valley under the oversight of the Department of Community Affairs — said he would not sign off on Tucci until Christie nominated someone from the Newark city council to fill a commission seat once held by the late councilman Donald Tucker. The slot has been vacant since Tucker died in 2005 because of infighting in Essex County over the post.
"There’s a whole lot of politics there and its been there for years," Rice declared.
The last candidate proposed by the council, though, was the senator’s own son, Newark Councilman Ronald C. Rice Jr., who was nominated by Corzine as the former governor was leaving office. The appointment expired without action. Rice said the appointment does not have to be his son. "That was the council’s choice," he said.
Rice acknowledged that he also blocked a replacement for Paserchia, whose PVSC term expired last year.
"She’s the only voice we have there to tell me what’s going on," explained Rice, whose senate district includes Belleville, where Paserchia once served as mayor.
In May, the governor nominated Republican William Roca of Wayne. Sen. John Girgenti (D-Passaic) blocked the appointment. He said his refusal was nothing personal.
"We were in negotiations with the governor’s office about a number of individuals," Girgenti said. "We were trying to work out other appointments — judges and other nominees."
But without his approval, the nomination of Roca, as well as that of Tucci, died at the end of the legislative session in December.
Ginger Gibson contributed to this report.