Christie staffers get hefty pay increases as other areas face cuts
MAY 29, 2014, 2:03 PM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2014, 11:31 PM
BY MELISSA HAYES
STATE HO– USE BUREAU
THE RECORD
Nearly all of the state employees responsible for helping Governor Christie craft and promote his image — from his press secretary to the staff that set up his town-hall events and put video clips of his appearances online — got raises in recent months that averaged 23 percent.
Gov. Chris Christie
Some of those who received the biggest boosts temporarily left state government to work on Christie’s reelection campaign last year, then returned with new titles and higher salaries. A deputy press secretary in the governor’s office who earned $75,000 last year before he left to serve as press secretary for the campaign, for example, now makes $110,000 as a deputy communications director.
The raises come as Christie is withholding more than $2.4 billion in payments to the state pension fund because of revenue shortfalls. And Christie has delayed a property-tax relief program that averages about $500 for seniors and some families.
And the raises to the governor’s staff appear to have happened around the same time Christie vetoed the minutes of the commission that oversees the Pinelands after its members voted to increase the budget for its staff by 5 percent. Christie castigated the commissioners and said the decision was a “conscious disregard of the fiscal realities.”
The governor’s office did not answer specific questions about the raises on Thursday, including questions about when they were awarded and whether other non-union employees were given pay increases.
“Changes in salary in the main reflect changes in position, promotions or expanded job responsibilities for these staff members,” Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said Thursday.
The Record sought the salary information in two Open Public Records Act requests. The first, filed in February, was denied and The Record was referred to the website yourmoney.nj.gov, which the state bills as New Jersey government’s “transparency center.” But at the time only salaries for 2012 and 2013 were listed.
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