Frank Donato, a commissioner on the assailed Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (PVSC), has gone on medical leave. 

Donato, a former superior court judge who has a private law practice, earns $10,000 a year as a commissioner in addition to health and pension benefits.  He said that the leave is unpaid, and declined to go into specifics about his medical condition.

“I haven’t resigned from the sewer commission, but I’m on medical leave of absence,” he told PolitickerNJ.com yesterday.

But Assemblyman Scott Rumana (R-Wayne) said he heard that Donato is going to resign altogether.

“It’s my understanding that he is going to resign.  That’s not from a direct conversation with commissioner Donato,” he said.  “The reality is that we are going to pursue our effort in cleaning up the commission.  We appreciate the time that Commissioner Donato has spent on the board, but at this point I’m looking to work with the Christie administration to clean up a really big mess.”

The PVSC has become a poster boy for the excesses of quasi-independent agencies, and Christie recently brought it into the media spotlight by pointing out Executive Director Bryan Christiansen’s $313,000 salary .  Christiansen has since announced that he plans to step down from the post on March 1.

Governor Christopher Christie today signed an executive order essentially freezing the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) and creating an advisory panel chaired by former state Sen. Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan) to issue recommendations about its future – drawing applause from COAH opponents and the promise court challenge by an affordable housing advocacy group.

“Governor Christie promised to gut COAH and he has inserted the knife,”said Assemblyman Scott Rumana (R-Wayne).  “Municipalities no longer have to worry about bureaucrats in Trenton inflicting impossible quotas that only result in higher property taxes without any more housing opportunity.”

State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth), a prime sponsor of legislation that seeks to do away with COAH in favor of an alternate means of towns meeting their affordable housing quotas, said that he was “encouraged” that the order freezes COAH.

“COAH won’t be able to do any more damage to New Jersey’s economic well-being,” he said. “Affordable housing development and job growth will once again be allowed to take place without the agency’s cumbersome and costly rules and regulations.”

But Fair Share Housing Center Associate Director Kevin Walsh called the executive order illegal and said that it would bring progress in the construction of affordable housing to a “grinding halt,” despite the order’s exception for shovel ready projects.
Walsh said his group would file a request for review of the executive order with the Appellate Division.

“Governors execute laws; they are not permitted to supplant the legislature.  Governors may not issue edicts that take over the role of independent state agencies,” said Walsh.  “This is as clear a violation of the doctrine of separation of powers as it gets.”

A large but relatively obscure agency in North Jersey is set to become Gov. Christopher Christie’s poster child for all that is wrong with New Jersey’s independent authorities. 

The Christie administration plans to delve into the payroll and outside consultant contracts of the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (PVSC) – a 108-year-old agency with a $164 million budget.

Christie already got the ball rolling on his criticism of the agency, singling out Executive Director Bryan Christiansen’s $313,000 salary as over-the-top.  And his transition team’s report called for a “thorough review” of its overhead expenditures and hiring of outside consultants – including attorneys and engineers.

The authority, which employees about 600 people -- 86 of whom earn six figure salaries – has a payroll of roughly $48 million.  It treats water for 1.3 million North Jersey residents.

“It’s something that I don’t think any New Jersey taxpayer can get their arms around,   somebody making a $313,000 salary.  It’s not just that – it’s the way they handle their professional services contracts.  In-house versus outside contracts,” said Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak.  “It’s outrageous in every way, and it’s remarkable what some of these authorities have grown into over the decades.  So this is just the sort of thing that we have to get a handle on.  Yes, there will be scrutiny.”

Deborah Gramiccioni, the former criminal justice director in the Attorney General’s Office, will head up the Governor’s Authorities Unit – which will review the PVSC and other quasi-independent authorities. 

The PVSC, which long ago developed a reputation as a patronage pit for both Democrats and Republicans, has drawn scrutiny before.

WEINBERG WELCOMES ASSEMBLYMAN RUMANA TO THE REFORM PARTY

Senator Says She Has Been Pushing for Governor Veto Power over Authorities for Years

TRENTON – Senator Loretta Weinberg, a leading champion of ethics reform in the State Legislature, today congratulated Assemblyman Scott Rumana for joining the ethics reform movement, saying that his calls for reform at the State’s quasi-governmental authorities echo many of the initiatives she’s tried to push through in the last few legislative sessions.

“With the ethics reform movement, we typically take all comers, and it’s always been the more the merrier in my book,” said Senator Weinberg, D-Bergen. “Whether it’s deathbed conversions, reform for the sake of political expediency, or an honest-to-goodness epiphany, anything that moves us closer to the goal of more ethical government is a welcome development. I look forward to working with legislators and policymakers across the political spectrum – including our new Governor – to reduce government waste and give the taxpayers of New Jersey a government they can be proud of.”

One of the upsets of the year came in Passaic County, where Republicans won the County Clerk post and three Freeholder seats, despite a messy intra-party fight and even though Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine's won the county 53%-44%.

Corzine's numbers in Passaic County fell short of his performance in 2005, when he won 60%-40% against Republican Douglas Forrester.  Corzine received 61,803 votes in 2005 and 57,010 in 2009; while Forrester received 41,532 votes, Christie's total was 48,500. 

In Paterson, which makes up nearly 20% of the total votes cast in the county, Corzine's margin over Christie was 15,121, about the same as his 15,550 vote win over Forrester.  Christie did a better than Forrester in Passaic and Clifton, but it was the suburbs that boosted his numbers: he carried Wayne by 3,623 votes - more than three times Forrester's margin (1,066) four years ago.  He quadruped Forrester's margin in Hawthorne, and doubled them in Totowa, West Milford.  Christie turned a 183 vote loss in Little Falls into a 359 vote win.

The key to the county GOP victories: huge drop-offs in the cities - Corzine received 5,213 more votes in Paterson and Passaic than the Democratic candidate for County Clerk - and GOP County Clerk-elect Kristin Corrado taking in just 899 votes more than Christie overall; solid wins in the north county towns; and a 52%-48% win in Clifton.  Corzine won Clifton 50%-46%.

Two nights ago, Passaic County Republicans held a fundraiser at a catering hall in Hawthorne.

Assemblyman Scott Rumana (R-Wayne), the county GOP chairman, wouldn't say exactly how much was raised.  But it was a lot more than what the party was able to scrape together around this time last year, he said.

"It's a much rosier picture than it ever has been in the three years we've been trying to put this party back together. Much rosier than in the last five or six years," said Rumana. 

Passaic County Republicans came out of obscurity last month with a stunning sweep of county offices, winning three freeholder seats and the county clerk office.  In November, Republicans only need to unseat one of the two Democratic incumbents - Terry Duffy and Pat Lepore - to win control of the freeholder board.

Now that they're in striking distance, the cash is flowing and prospective candidates are lining up, according to Rumana.

"I'm seeing so much interest at this point.  It is going to be a great opportunity to sift through and decide what's going to be the best direction for the party to take, as opposed to before when you had to twist someone's arm to run," he said.

But Rumana is keeping quiet about who has expressed interest in running, saying only that he hopes to reach out to the large Hispanic communities in Passaic County's principle cities: Paterson and Passaic.

In addition to the two freeholders, Sheriff Jerry Speziale, a Democrat who has $584,000 in his campaign account, is up for reelection.  The name of just one Republican potential candidate to run against him has surfaced: Little Falls Mayor Michael DeFrancisci, a former agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Drug Enforcement Administration

Ask leaders of the two Republican factions in Passaic County how they swept the county office elections last night and you get two different interpretations.

Passaic County Republican Chairman Scott Rumana (R-Wayne), who's also an assemblyman, attributed the win to the dominant Democratic Party losing touch with the county's residents. 

"You have citizens in Passaic County who have been disenfranchised by the Democratic Party," he said.  "We've been pulling in people who were not part of the party for many years, and that's really been a big, big help in this process."

In a stunning upset, Republicans beat three Democrats - including the incumbent freeholder director, Tahesha Way - and won the county clerk seat

Rumana said that his party's "team building" approach to leadership also played a role.

But Mike Mecca, who is chairman of the splinter group GOP Strong - which challenged Rumana for his chairmanship and supported assembly primary candidates against him - said that Kristin Corrado, county clerk candidate that GOP Strong recruited to defeat the PCRRO's candidate in the June primary -- led the Republican ticket to victory.

Passaic County Republicans Work Together to Sweep Elections

Republican Governor, Assemblymen, County Clerk, Freeholders, and Local Officials Victorious 

The Record has endorsed Assemblymen David Russo (R-Ridgewood) and Scott Rumana (R-Wayne) for re-election.

"The wounds from infighting have begun to heal, and there is little reason not to support the incumbents for reelection," the editorial said.

Ridgewood, NJ – Today 40th District Assembly candidates John Agostinelli and Mark Bombace were endorsed by Bergen County Sheriff Leo McGuire and local elected officials in Bergen and Passaic Counties - including Ridgewood Councilman Paul Aronsohn, Wanaque Councilwoman Karen Cisco, Little Falls Council President William Liess, Little Falls Councilman Paul Huggins, and Little Falls Councilman Joseph Sisco.