TRENTON - Department of Corrections Commissioner Devon Brown
told the state Assembly Budget Committee on Tuesday that he
has been forced to accept unqualified or unnecessary employees
because of their political connections.
The startling admission came two hours into the hearing when
Assembly Republican Budget Officer Joe Malone of Morris County
asked Brown in a low-key tone if there were administrative
layers in his department that seemed unnecessary or jobs that
were duplicative.
"I would be untruthful if I did not say that there have been
both legislative and executive placements," Brown answered.
"I understand that's the way of the government here."
"So you are saying there may be some patronage within your
department?" Malone followed.
"May be?" Brown said. "I'm saying there is."
Asked to put a price tag on the patronage jobs, Brown laughed
and said, "It's substantial. These are not light salaries."
The state Department of Corrections, with a $1 billion budget,
is the second-largest department in the state. It oversees
9,500 employees, 14 institutions and 27,000 inmates. The state's
largest department is the Department of Human Services.
Brown later provided the Budget Committee with a list of 14
appointments he considered politically-motivated, including
an assistant ombudsman, an assistant superintendent at Northern
State Prison in Newark and seven employees with the title
"government representative."
The salaries of the 14 - all appointed under former Gov. James
E. McGreevey - totaled between $700,000 and $1 million, Malone
said.
With the entire state Assembly up for re-election in November,
this year's budget hearings have taken on an aggressive tone.
Budget committee members from both parties have come prepared
with examples of waste with which to quiz department heads.
Still, no one on the committee expected Brown's admission.
Assembly Budget Chairman Lou Greenwald, D-Camden, asked Brown
for a list of employees within 24 hours. Assemblyman Joe Cryan,
D-Union, who was clearly angered by Brown's testimony, said
he wanted a list immediately.
"Give us some names and give us some dollars," Cryan said.
Cryan told Brown he found it unconscionable that the budget
committee had not been told about the patronage positions
earlier. That prompted a heated exchange between the two men
that lasted several minutes.
"You make an assumption that this has not been brought to
the government's attention," Brown told Cryan.
After the hearing, Malone said he suspects the Department
of Corrections is just one example of a state government saddled
with patronage jobs.
"We're starting to see a pattern, formulated by McGreevey,
where the patronage structure works toward re-election," Malone
said. "There is an attitude that has developed that it's OK
to do these things even in the face of dramatic budget deficits."
Brown's testimony lasted more than four hours. He said his
top priority for the coming year is the replacement of the
Southern State Correctional Facility in Maurice River Township,
Cumberland County, which consists entirely of trailers.
He also reiterated his position that a New Year's Day brawl
at Bayside State Prison in Maurice River Township was not
a riot. The stance further strained Brown's already poor relationship
with the corrections workers unions.
"It's disturbing that our commissioner would make a statement
like that knowing there were 29 officers injured that night,"
Troy Ferus, president of the New Jersey State Corrections
Association, said after the hearing. Ferus also said he was
concerned about Brown's testimony in opposition to sick leaves
with full income and he said he hopes the commissioner supports
adding a permanent facility at Southern State instead of eliminating
it.
The greatest fallout from Brown's testimony, however, will
likely come from his answer to the patronage question.
"I've got to give Devon Brown a lot of credit for his truthfulness,"
Malone said after the hearing. "That was probably the most
amazing answer to any question I've asked in 13 years on the
budget committee."
