NJ Troopers Slam Christie With Lawsuit
A group of unions representing New Jersey State Troopers are the first to sue Gov. Chris Christie to force him to make the payment to the state’s public-worker pension system that he agreed to under a contractual agreement with the state’s workers.
Christie’s proposed budget, which covers the fiscal year that begins in July, includes a $1.3 billion pension payment. But that number is far below what he agreed to under a 2011 pension overhaul he signed into law.
The State Troopers Fraternal Association of New Jersey, the State Troopers Non-Commissioned Officers Association, and the State Troopers Superior Officers Association filed a lawsuit in state Superior Court in Trenton stating that Christie is breaking that 2011 law by not making the full payment.
“The foregoing situation constitutes a real, present, and imminent danger that the defendants are about to violate,” the lawsuit says. “Any failure to fund the pension trust fund has a ripple effect into the future.”
Chris Burgos, president of the State Troopers Fraternal Association of NJ made this point: “If the State of NJ vs. Exxon-Mobil $9 billion dollar pollution lawsuit was settled for 33 cents on the dollar instead of 3 cents on the dollar, there would be enough money just from this one case to pay off the entire State pension obligation for both this year and next year.”
Burgos also noted that the $1.5 billion dollars in Wall Street fees the Christie administration has paid since he took office would settle Judge Jacobson’s February Court Order for non-payment into NJ’s pension system for FY’15.
According to a story by Brent Johnson on NJ.com, a dozen other public-worker unions said they plan to file similar lawsuits.
A state Superior Court judge ruled in February that Christie broke the 2011 law when he slashed $1.5 billion from the pension payment in the current state budget. Judge Mary Jacobson also ordered that he and the state legislature work together to make up the money.
New Jersey’s governors have short-changed the pension system for two decades, in an effort to balance state budgets. That has left an $83 billion unfunded pension liability, one of the highest in the country. Saying he didn’t have a choice, Christie cut a combined $2.4 billion in pension payments from the 2014 and 2015 budgets after his office’s revenue projections fell far short.
The State Troopers Fraternal Association of New Jersey is a member of PubSecAlliance.
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