Where does the average citizen sign up for a few state jobs?

The Asbury Park Press has started a multi-part series on the practice in New Jersey of politicians and patronage employees double dipping (having more than one state job, a practice that is illegal in most state including New York). In an article entitled More Hold Multiple Jobs in the State, the paper outlines the effect of this practice:

The ranks of highly paid double dippers — government employees with two or more public jobs that paid more than $100,000 together — swelled by 20 percent last year, despite calls to end the practice, Gannett New Jersey has found.

A review of pension enrollment data found that:

A total of 853 highly paid double dippers were in the state's largest public employee retirement fund last year, an increase of 20 percent from 2006 to 2007.

Those same multiple-job holders had a collective salary of $107.8 million, also up 20 percent from 2006. They held an average of 2.8 jobs each and had an average pay of $126,000 in 2007. All totaled, there were 6,271 multiple-job holders — including one woman with 12 jobs — pulling down $354 million in salaries.

This practice has long been ethically suspect as these are not positions that are advertised and open to any applicant around the state. These jobs are pure patronage and those who held multiple positions are actively gaming a flawed system as insiders.

Does this practice make you angry? You will get angrier if you follow the information provided by the paper below:

To view salaries for all employees, and a searchable list of multiple-job holders, visit www.DataUniverse.com and click on "What's New." DataUniverse is the Asbury Park Press' public records site on the Web.

Gannett New Jersey has found numerous examples over the years of independent contractors, mostly lawyers, receiving far better government pension benefits than full-time government employees. By cobbling together multiple part-time posts, some multiple-job holders can amass an annual public salary that eclipses the amount New Jersey governors are entitled to under state law.

And with higher salaries come higher pension payments upon retirement

Go to the site and follow the NJ Employee link. Then select the "multiple job holders" report. And then feel the steam come out of your ears....

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