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Dozens of N.J. legislators receive more than one public paycheck

New disclosure reports show about one in three state lawmakers received a second public paycheck last year.

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State Sen. Nicholas Sacco (D-Hudson) also collects taxpayer-funded paychecks as assistant superintendent and mayor of North Bergen. Sacco was paid $278,260 last year

TRENTON — About one in three state lawmakers received a second public paycheck last year, new disclosure reports show.

Of New Jersey’s 120 senators and Assembly members, at least 36 held a second publicly financed job. They worked as teachers, mayors, municipal prosecutors, police officers, school administrators and adjunct college professors.

Some made generous public salaries in addition to their $49,000 part-time legislative pay. For others, the second job on the public payroll such as a part-time college professor or town attorney provided a small addition to their income.

The practice, has been criticized by Gov. Chris Christie, who wants all public workers — not just legislators — restricted to one public paycheck, except for those who are already retired from one job and receiving a pension. Public workers could still take other government jobs, elective or otherwise, but they’d only be able to earn a salary for one of them.

"You get one, that’s it," said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for Christie. "It would eliminate a lot of the people who make this their living for life."

Since 2008, all politicians in the state have been banned from serving in more than one elective office, although those already holding office were allowed to remain and to keep seeking re-election. In addition, the ban did not address those holding more than one unelected public position.

A Star-Ledger review of the recent disclosure reports filed with the Office of Legislative Services shows:

• Of the 36 or more lawmakers with more than one public job last year, 26 were Democrats.

• At least 19 of the lawmakers earned more than $50,000 from their other government job.

• Seventeen had husbands or wives on a government payroll.

• At least 17 lawmakers received public pensions, and five took advantage of a state law allowing them to retire and collect pensions for the elected office they currently hold.

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FRIENDS WITH MONEY

Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Cryan (D-Union), who earns $111,772 as a Union County undersheriff, said Christie’s proposal to limit the number of public paychecks would make it hard for those in less lucrative lines of work to serve in the Legislature.

"Not all of us are worth millions like Chris Christie and his pals," Cryan said. "It cuts out a voice for hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans … teachers, police and firefighters."

Counties with strong party political machines tended to have more lawmakers with more than one government paycheck. Of the nine lawmakers who live in heavily Democratic Hudson County, for instance, seven had other public income. Of the eight lawmakers from Republican-dominated Ocean County, three had other public jobs, two received public pensions and two had wives with public jobs.

The state’s top two lawmakers — Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) and Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) — both earned a government income on top of the $65,333 they each make as legislative leaders. Sweeney donated his $17,908-a-year salary as a Gloucester County freeholder to charity, and left that office at the end of last year. Oliver earned $83,048 as assistant Essex County administrator.

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POLITICS OF PERCEPTION

But it is state Sen. Nicholas Sacco (D-Hudson) who has the distinction of collecting the most from his public positions, earning salaries as senator, mayor of North Bergen and assistant superintendent of schools there.

Although the financial disclosure form doesn’t break down the various incomes, other public records show that Sacco earned a total of $278,260 last year — most of which came from his job as assistant superintendent.

His constituents don’t seem to mind, however. Sacco was re-elected mayor on May 10 with 83 percent of the vote.

"The only people who really matter in this whole conversation are the people that he represents," said his spokesman, Paul Swibinski. "They have an extraordinary public servant who does a terrific job representing them. That’s why he is so popular and why people don’t care about this issue."

Most lawmakers do not earn the amount of public money Sacco does. For instance, Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris), reported that he made less than $10,000 last year as an adjunct professor at Rutgers School of Law-Newark.

"If they had to pay me minimum wage, they would have owed me substantially more," Carroll said.

He earned an additional $29,000 as the planning board attorney in Montville, though he said that under ethics laws, he did not have to report that income on his disclosure form.

Carroll said he favored barring lawmakers from holding several government jobs to boost their pensions, though he added that he thought attorneys should be able to represent several municipalities on a part-time basis.

"The idea of limiting people to one part-time job is silly," he said.

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PRIVATE BUSINESS

The legislative financial disclosure forms are vague, so it’s hard to put together a detailed picture of lawmakers’ income. For instance, the top income category is "over $50,000," making it impossible to tell whether someone is making $51,000 or $1 million.

Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, who is a municipal prosecutor for several Mercer County towns and an adjunct professor at the College of New Jersey, said he did not think it was fair to single out public employees.

He noted that some state legislators, though they do not hold a second public position, work for companies that do business with state and local governments, creating a potential conflict of interest.

"I have more problems with the persons who will remain nameless who have private-sector jobs only because they have an Assembly position," he said. "There’s more pernicious activity with the ones who have private jobs than public jobs."

Indeed, some lawmakers work for companies that have millions of dollars in public contracts.

State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen), chairman of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, collects a $4,996 annual salary as mayor of Wood-Ridge. But his main employer, the engineering firm Joseph M. Sanzari Inc., had $29 million in public contracts last year, according to disclosures filed with the Election Law Enforcement Commission.

His counterpart in the Assembly, Lou Greenwald (D-Camden), works for Remington & Vernick Engineers, which did $23 million in public work last year.

The law firm of state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) had slightly less than $4 million in public contracts, which he said accounted for only about 15 percent of the firm’s business.

"And, by the way, it’s none of the work that I do," he said. "They lend to the profitability of the firm, there’s no doubt about that. But there are 60 lawyers involved."


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