Asbury Park Press
May 4, 2005
JONATHAN TAMARI
GANNETT STATE BUREAU
TRENTON — The head of the state Department of Corrections
said Tuesday he was forced to hire 14 workers he did not need
or want at the request of members of the executive and legislative
branches.
Those employees are being paid a combined $866,835 this year,
payroll records show.
"I would be untruthful if I did not say that there have
been both legislative and executive placements," Corrections
Commissioner Devon Brown told the Assembly Budget Committee.
"I understand that's the way of the government here."
Brown was responding to questions about his administration
posed by Assemblyman Joseph R. Malone III, R-Burlington.
"So I understand, you say there may be some patronage
in your department?" Malone continued.
"Might be? No, I say there is," Brown said.
The positions include the assistant superintendent of Northern
State Prison, who earns $64,286 a year; an assistant director
at the department's training facility who earns $99,813; a
former worker in the Office of Employee relations under then-Gov.
James E. McGreevey who now makes $82,320 at corrections; and
an assistant ombudsman who campaigned for McGreevey and makes
$66,959.
"These are not light salaries," Brown said. Under
questioning, he added that he would eliminate all of the patronage
jobs if he could.
The admission shocked legislators, but they differed in who
is to blame.
"People thought, "Did he just say that?' The Democrats
and Republicans alike were equally stunned," Assemblyman
Kevin J. O'Toole, R-Essex, said. "He said either unqualified
or unnecessary. It's a rare glimpse of candor at the executive
level."
Malone blamed Democrats.
"The people have a right. They ought to be angry. . .
. You don't bring in 90,000, 100,000 people because they worked
on your campaign," Malone said.
But Assemblyman Louis D. Greenwald, D-Camden, the chairman
of the Assembly Budget Committee, blamed Brown, saying people
in government receive resumes from friends every day, but
it is up to them to review their qualifications.
"Ultimately, it falls on the commissioner for hiring
someone he deems unqualified or unnecessary in any department,"
Greenwald said.
Republicans called on acting Gov. Codey — who took over
that office in November after McGreevey resigned with 14 months
left in his term — to investigate political patronage
in all state departments.
"This didn't happen under our watch," Codey spokeswoman
Kelley Heck said. "None of these 14 people have been
placed by Governor Codey, and none have been placed by the
governor's office since Diane Legreide started working here
last March."
Brown did not specify who requested the various hires. Four
of the workers were already on the government payroll before
the Democrats took control of the executive branch in 2002.
Three were transferred into corrections, and one was promoted.
Theodore Bradley, the assistant ombudsman on Brown's list,
also serves on the Gloucester County Board of Elections. Sen.
Stephen M. Sweeney, who is also Gloucester County freeholder
director, said Bradley helped campaign for McGreevey and had
been trying to land a job in the administration for "quite
some time."
Sweeney said he sends out "a hundred" recommendation
letters each year and could not recall if one for Bradley
was included, but he said he had made no phone calls or done
other work to get Bradley a job.
Sweeney, a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations
Committee, was angered that Brown didn't raise these issues
at the budget hearing before that group held April 18 or specify
who asked for the hirings.
"He owes the public the truth. Why hasn't he spoken up
before? Why didn't he push to eliminate (the jobs)? Obviously
he knows who put them there," Sweeney said. "Let's
come all the way clean. Don't come a little bit of the way."
Department of Corrections spokesman Matt Schuman said Brown
would not "make public" information about who asked
for the hirings Tuesday.
