TRENTON — Public officials who lose re-election would be barred from approving promotions and pay raises as they leave office, under a bill sponsored by two Bergen County lawmakers. The measure was introduced Thursday, weeks after outgoing Bergen County Democratic freeholders voted for more than 100 appointments to county jobs and hundreds of thousands of dollars in retroactive raises...
Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen), a sponsor of the bill, is pictured in an October file photo.TRENTON — Public officials who lose re-election would be barred from approving promotions and pay raises as they leave office, under a bill sponsored by two Bergen County lawmakers.
The measure was introduced Thursday, weeks after outgoing Bergen County Democratic freeholders voted for more than 100 appointments to county jobs and hundreds of thousands of dollars in retroactive raises for non-union employees.
“It’s a response to what happened in Bergen but I think it’s also a step toward rooting out patronage in the future,” Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, D-Englewood, a bill sponsor, said Friday. “I don’t consider this to be a partisan bill. There is patronage on both sides of the aisle. Things have been done like that in the past. That doesn’t make it a good enough reason to continue.”
The co-sponsor, Assemblywoman Connie Wagner, D-Paramus, said the job changes caused anger in her legislative district.
“I was offended, along with many of my constituents, who expressed dissatisfaction with the huge increases in salary and with the promotions,” Wagner said. “This is about good government, and people expect good government.”
Democrats lost control of Bergen County government in the Nov. 2 election.
The defeated politicians — County Executive Dennis McNerney and the Democrat-controlled freeholder board — enacted the employment changes through Dec. 31, their last day in office.
The approvals came despite a letter from Kathleen Donovan, the newly elected Republican county executive, asking departing county officials not to make appointments. Democrats said that despite losing the election, they still held elective office and had a duty to act on business matters.
The majority Republican board voted two weeks ago to overturn and review dozens of the appointments, in addition to contracts awarded by the Democrats. It also rescinded a resolution involving a $2.6 million bond issue the Democrats had approved for the Bergen Performing Arts Center.
Jeanne Baratta, chief of staff for Donovan, did not return a phone call for comment on the pending legislation.