NJ ATTORNEY GENERAL DOW’S 23
DOUBLE-DIPPING AGENTS ‘ARREST’ $14 MILLION FROM STATE PENSION FUNDS – AND KEEP
THE CASH
Investigative Report by Mark Lagerkvist
Posted on December
12, 2011
http://newjersey.watchdog.org/2011/12/12/5077/
Sgt. State
Investigator Robert W. Kent hit a million dollar jackpot. Kent didn’t win a lottery; he is a double-dipper
playing the New Jersey
State Pension game.
For the past
22 years, Kent
has collected two sets of checks from the state. At age 74, he receives a $100,000 salary plus $59,000 in retirement pay
a year though he “retired” for less than a week.
Kent is one of 23 current investigators and
supervisors who pocketed nearly $14 million in pension pay in addition to their
salaries from the Attorney General, a New
Jersey Watchdog investigation found.
On average,
each officer has collared nearly $600,000 in retirement pay while in the employ
of the Attorney General. Since its initial investigative report, New Jersey Watchdog obtained records of
their cumulative pension totals. (See below chart for names and amounts.)
The 23
employees, now under Paula T. Dow, continue to get state pension checks at a
rate of $1.5 million a year. Dow’s office did not respond to a request for
comment.
The officers
retired from the State Police or the Division of Criminal Justice, then returned to work for Division of Criminal Justice or
Office of Attorney General. Sixteen of them were back on the Attorney General’s
payroll within a week of their retirement dates.
Kent, for
example, retired at age 52 as a State Police captain on
Nov. 1, 1989. Five days later, he had a new job as a state
investigator at DCJ. Kent, now approaching his 75th birthday, has
worked there ever since.
Meanwhile, Kent has received
$1.1 million in pension pay without missing a
single paycheck from the Attorney General.
The next
generation of double-dippers includes 49-year-old State Investigator Joseph C. Saiia II. He “retired” from the State Police on May 1.
After a six-day break, he started his new job at
DCJ.
Saiia gets a pension of $85,000 a year on top of his $78,890 annual salary. If he stays on the
job until 74 – Kent’s
age – he could reap $2.12 million in retirement pay without actually
retiring.
Dow’s
double-dippers take advantage of a pension law that exclusively allows New Jersey police and
fire officials to retire after 25 years of service, regardless of age, with a
pension equal to 65 percent of salary. It’s called “special retirement,” and it’s only for members
of the Police & Firemen’s Retirement System and State Police Retirement
System. Special retirements are not available to workers under other state
pension plans.
The fact
that most of the double-dippers’ “retirements” lasted less than one week
appears to flaunt pension rules. A retirement is only “bona fide” if “there is a good faith action to
retire” and if “the employer/employee relationship is completely severed,”
including “a cessation of employment of at least 30 days,” according to the SPRS and PFRS handbooks.
If a
retirement is not “bona fide,” the employee is “required to
reimburse the retirement system for the amount of any retirement benefits,” and
“there is no limitation on the amount of reimbursement.”
Despite the
rules, the Attorney General’s double-dippers are unlikely to give up their dual
checks or repay millions to state pension funds. That’s because the
Attorney General and pension boards advised by the Attorney General play key
roles in interpreting and enforcing pension laws in New Jersey.
Double-dipping
abuses were all but ignored in Gov. Chris Christie’s pension overhaul earlier
this year, which the governor called his ”biggest
governmental victory.” The new laws do little to stop public
employees from simultaneously collecting salaries plus retirement pay.
Meanwhile, New Jersey faces a
staggering deficit in its pension funds. State Treasury
officials estimate the shortfall at $36 billion. In
contrast, other actuaries contend New
Jersey’s pension funds may be underfunded by more than $144 billion.
Systemic
double-dipping by public officials is the focus of a series of ongoing New Jersey Watchdog
investigations.
Last month, New Jersey Watchdog exposed triple-dipping
by Christie’s budget adviser and cabinet secretary. During the past nine
years, Louis C. Goetting IV has raked in $1.1 million
from taxpayers through two severance payouts and an early retirement
deal. He now collects $219,000 a year from the state – a $130,000
salary plus $89,000 in pension payments.
In
September, New Jersey
Watchdog revealed that 44 top county cops – 16 sheriffs and 28 undersheriffs from 20 counties – collect $3.25 million a
year in pensions in addition to their county salaries.
Last
year, New Jersey Watchdog found evidence implicating Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, Christie’s second-in-command, in an alleged scam
that cost a state pension fund a quarter-million dollars. As Monmouth County sheriff, Guadagno
made false statements that enabled a top aide to double-dip. The case is currently
under investigation by the Attorney General.
Click here for the original New Jersey Watchdog report that broke the
story on the Attorney General’s double-dippers.
Next, who
will investigate the Attorney General’s investigators?
# # #
WHO GOT IT & HOW MUCH DID THEY GET? NEW
JERSEY WATCHDOG’S LIST OF THE STATE RETIREMENT
PAY RECEIVED BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL’S 23
DOUBLE-DIPPING INVESTIGATORS
Last
|
First
|
Pension Total
|
Retired
|
Rehired
|
Current Title
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Kent
|
Robert
|
$ 1,104,602
|
11/1/1989
|
11/6/1989
|
Sgt St Investigator
|
Rozwadowski
|
Ronald
|
$ 836,652
|
8/1/1996
|
8/2/1996
|
Sgt St Investigator
|
Davis
|
William
|
$ 801,802
|
9/30/1999
|
10/1/1999
|
Det 1 Investigator
|
Kendig
|
Patrick
|
$ 776,359
|
3/31/1998
|
10/13/1998
|
Sgt St Investigator
|
Quirk
|
Edward
|
$ 725,000
|
9/30/2000
|
10/1/2000
|
Lt State Investigator
|
Weidman
|
Frederick
|
$ 713,352
|
2/28/2001
|
3/1/2001
|
Sgt St Investigator
|
Hess
|
Edgar
|
$ 712,069
|
7/31/2001
|
8/1/2001
|
Lt State Investigator
|
Macciocca
|
Donald
|
$ 709,572
|
8/31/2001
|
9/1/2001
|
Det 1 Investigator
|
Carlin
|
Richard
|
$ 692,267
|
1/1/1995
|
1/5/1998
|
Sgt St Investigator
|
Sheeran
|
John
|
$ 683,856
|
12/31/1998
|
1/1/1999
|
Det 1 Investigator
|
Drummond
|
Alan
|
$ 651,908
|
1/31/2001
|
2/1/2001
|
Sgt St Investigator
|
Bacsik
|
Kenneth
|
$ 646,901
|
4/30/1994
|
9/9/1996
|
Investigator 1
|
Zichello
|
Nicholas
|
$ 581,842
|
1/31/2005
|
2/1/2005
|
Supervising Investigator
|
Loufik
|
Richard
|
$ 576,282
|
2/29/2004
|
3/1/2004
|
Det 1 Investigator
|
Saunders
|
William
|
$ 560,278
|
9/30/1999
|
12/20/1999
|
Special Investigator
|
Salzmann
|
David
|
$ 545,916
|
12/31/2002
|
12/15/2003
|
Sgt St Investigator
|
Mai
|
Mark
|
$ 521,394
|
5/31/2001
|
12/15/2003
|
Sgt St Investigator
|
Morris
|
Paul
|
$ 413,011
|
8/31/2006
|
9/1/2006
|
Chf of Det St Investigator
|
Royle
|
Michael
|
$ 392,903
|
7/31/2005
|
8/1/2005
|
Investigator 1
|
Smith
|
John
|
$ 370,682
|
6/30/2004
|
7/1/2004
|
Special Investigator
|
Crescenz
|
Charles
|
$ 364,359
|
6/1/1990
|
11/10/1997
|
Investigator 1
|
Lane
|
Richard
|
$ 335,867
|
11/30/2007
|
12/1/2007
|
Det 1 Investigator
|
Saiia
|
Joseph
|
$ 49,615
|
5/1/2011
|
5/7/2011
|
Det 1 Investigator
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOTAL
|
|
$ 13,766,489
|
|
|
|
AVERAGE
|
|
$ 598,543
|
|
|
|
New Jersey Watchdog’s research focused on current
employees of the New Jersey
Office of Attorney General and Division of Criminal Justice who draw state
pensions while collecting salaries exceeding $75,000 a year. The data was
obtained from pension, payroll and personnel records
obtained from the New Jersey Department of Treasury and New Jersey Civil Service Commission under
the state Open Public Records Act.
For Kent, Rozwadowski, Davis, Quirk, Weidman,
Hess, Macciocca, Sheeran,
Drummond, Zichello, Loufik,
Morris, Royle, Smith, Lane and Saiia,
the amounts are taken directly from state pension documents.
The other
seven employees had significant periods of time between date of retirement and
their return to work for the Attorney General. Based on available state data, New Jersey Watchdog’s
estimates excluded any pension payments received while not in the Attorney
General’s employ.
Overall, the
23 employees have collected $14,586,417 in pension payments. Pension
amounts and employment status are current as of December 2011.