Responsibility is the Answer

Recently, the legislative mail has overflowed with requests – demands, more accurately – from scads of public employees, all (except one) objecting vociferously to the exceedingly modest changes proposed to the state pension and benefit plans.

In a sense, the outrage is entirely understandable. Even if these irresponsible wages and benefits never should have been granted in the first instance, they were. To my eternal shame, I actually voted for one massive pension benefit increase. (In my (weak) defense, the pension benefit pooh-bahs swore that the funds were completely solvent; indeed, operating at a surplus. Permit me a shout out of my erstwhile colleague, Rick Merkt, the only one of us with the foresight, and the courage, to stand up against a truly idiotic proposal) And, furthermore, given the outrageously irresponsible behavior of every administration since 1997 with respect to pension benefits, the ire of public employees makes some modicum of sense.

But not a lot. Because the lion’s share of the hole in the pension fund resulted from a market collapse, not from pension underfunding. And these folks contributed not one thin dime to their post retirement health benefits, secured not by free and fair bargaining, but by hardball political tactics.

Public service requires sacrifice, and that "Me First" attitude displayed by not a few public servants is truly unseemly. While some say, accurately, that public employees "deserve" good pay and benefits, the unassailable fact is that the public can’t afford them.

True, politicians have been able to buy votes by increasing benefits and pay, while kicking the can down the road for their successors to pay. Indeed, the ire of the public employee unions would be much more understandable if they did not enthusiastically endorse and politically support those who were most responsible for creating the present morass. (Father Jim, please call your office)

So, while public employees are not to blame, they received promises made by irresponsible pols, most of whom are retired or incarcerated. It falls to us to fix the problems they created, and to ensure that this never happens again.

I suggest certain modest proposals:

• No governmental entity shall enter into any contract of employment lasting in excess of three years, nor one which makes any unfunded promises of compensation or benefits beyond the date of its termination.

No more sweetheart vacation accumulation, etc., because whatever contract makes the promise must also fund it.

• All municipal authority shall repose in the hands of the Governing Body, elections for which shall take place on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

Abolish all local Boards or authorities, endowing one municipal entity with full authority to govern. Give it the power, and hold it electorally responsible. Local residents will get the kind of government they deserve, and that for which they are willing to pay.

• No person employed by any governmental entity shall participate in partisan political activity nor donate to any candidate for office. No organization engaged in collective bargaining with any governmental entity shall participate in partisan political activity. No person holding a position of profit with any governmental entity shall be a candidate for, or serve in, elected office.

Generally, restrictions upon political activity are problematic. But governmental employees are different; they should not be attempting to elect their own bosses. It’s an inherent conflict of interest for employees to wield disproportionate power to secure benefits for themselves at taxpayer expense. They should win such benefits as they can at the bargaining table, not in the political process.

• All governmental employees shall serve at will, terminable for cause.

And can be dismissed, just the same as any private employee. No tenure, no civil service, etc. All employment decisions based upon merit. And if someone finds himself in the victim of a warrantless termination, that’s why they have unions.

• The terms and conditions of local employment shall be established by the local governmental employer.

Again, all decisions respecting local governmental employment should be made by the locals, answerable to the people. No benefits should be awarded by statute.

• The Legislature shall expend no funds for the benefit of, or in assistance of, any local governmental entity.

With local authority comes local responsibility.

• The Legislature shall expend no funds on gifts, nor upon any competent person over the age of 18 years, save for compensation for services rendered to, or property acquired by, the state, in conformity with a bona fide contract entered into before the provision of such services or sale of such property.

Buying votes with other people’s money is always a problem. This ensures that the state funds are used for state purposes. Couple with the proceeding paragraph, it ensures that all educational funds flow through parents, increasing freedom and massively cutting property taxes.

Our present property tax difficulties rest primarily with a dislocation of responsibility: the Legislature awards benefits, through statute, demanding that the locals pay. Just a few years ago, the Legislature passed a gift onto the NJEA, proscribing contract imposition. Local police and firefighters enjoy interest arbitration, which enables one man to impose a contract upon the taxpayers.

The key to any successful political system is electoral responsibility and clear lines of authority. Draw clear lines, and, then, oblige each governmental entity to be responsible for its own bailiwick. Prohibit pols from pushing the consequences of present policy onto future generations.
And, the, let the electorate determine for itself how it chooses to be governed.