N.J. officials' salaries / Cut pay at the top

Posted: Sunday, October 9, 2011 12:01 am

The economy is in distress. People are suffering - and angry. Class distinctions are widening and sharpening.

Casino workers, government workers, virtually all workers are being asked - or told - to take a hit. If salaries have not been cut, they certainly have been frozen for a great many people.

Municipal workers in Hamilton Township have just agreed to a new contract that freezes pay at current levels for three years. "We can wait and negotiate a better contract when the economy is doing better. I'd rather keep people working and see what we can do as we move forward," said Marcus King, president of the Teamsters Local 331 chapter that represents the Hamilton Township workers. Good for him. He gets it.

And Gov. Chris Christie gets it, too. The governor recently announced that he will not make any appointments to the Public Officers Salary Review Commission, a legislatively mandated body that was supposed to meet this fall to consider raises for high-ranking public officials, such as the governor and his Cabinet, judges and prosecutors, members of the Legislature and members of various other boards and commissions.

It was a slick move. Without the appointments, the commission does not have a quorum and cannot meet. (And for the record, the Democratic leaders of the Legislature, Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, withdrew their appointments, too.)

"It would be inappropriate and send the absolute wrong message to the people of our state for Trenton politicians to consider giving themselves pay raises, given the current economic realities," Christie said.

Of course, even if the panel did meet and did recommend raises, they would have to be approved by the Legislature and the governor. So Christie's move was mostly symbolic. And as it happens, two Republican lawmakers have an even better idea.

Sen. Dawn Marie Addiego and Assemblyman Scott Rudder, both R-Burlington, want the salary commission to meet - and to recommend a 10 percent pay cut for all the state employees under its purview.

We like it. That's a symbolic move with a little more bite, and therefore more meaning.

The 10 percent cut would save the state $9.6 million - which by itself is a pretty major plus. But just as important, having the upper tier of state government take a 10 percent pay cut would be a step toward healing some of the wounds this economy has opened up. It can also salve some of the anger that has the potential to cause great damage to this state and this nation. And it would make New Jersey a national model for a new fairness.

Sure, it's always easy to give away other people's money. These folks who would take this 10 percent pay cut are not, for the most part, the super-rich. But nor are they living lives of economic desperation. And they can take solace in the fact that they will have helped make the state's budget distress, and the nation's sharpening economic divisions, just a little less severe.