September 28, 2007 - 1:22pm
Merkt calls on Singh to drop out
By Matt FriedmanAssemblyman Richard Merkt wants state Senate candidate Seems Singh to drop her bid for the 14th district seat after her involvement in what he calls “possible public pension abuse.”
A Trenton Times article today revealed that Singh had hired her former chief of staff, Leora Mosstown, as a $125-an-hour consultant six days after her retirement. State pension officials ordered Mosstown to return the $86,000 she had received after her retirement while she continued to work for Singh as a consultant, earning $520,000 in salary during that same period.
“Seema Singh knew about this abuse, then she willingly participated in a scheme to weaken the state’s already under-funded public employees pension system,” said Merkt, who’s proud of his status as a “vocal critic of abuses of pension benefits.”
“How can the New Jersey Legislature ever hope to achieve credibility on the issues of ethics and pension reform when we have people running for office who may be implicated in public pension abuses?”
Singh was representing a client in court and could not be reached for comment, but campaign spokeswoman Elizabeth Meyers said that Baroni was outsourcing his campaign’s dirty work.
“Seema Singh stood up for the consumers and ratepayers of New Jersy while she was Ratepayer Advocate,” said Meyers. “Yet, Assemblyman Baroni is standing behind his fellow politicians like Mr. Merkt to do his bidding. In addtion, he has turned to residents of this district to issue dirty attacks on his behalf.
Merkt quickly replied to Meyers' buzz.
"Dirty? I'll tell you what's 'dirty': letting your chief of staff milk the public pension system while still pulling down a six-figure salary at the taxpayer's expense. Real public employees don't get in on such a gravy train," said Merkt. "You want to know why this state's going broke? It's because of schemers such this, who knowingly abuse the public pension system -- and those who tolerate and abet them."Singh should be publicly apologizing to the people of New Jersey for her role in abusing their trust, not dispatching her mouthpiece to attack anyone who questions her poor judgment. It's noteworthy that Singh lacks the guts to come out herself and defend what she did," Merkt said. "It's a lot easier to send out her 'spokesperson,' so that Singh can remain in hiding. Some 'leader'!"
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wow - genius
Uh yeah the lawsuit is directly related to the stem cell bond act, which Baroni opposed. In case you didn't know, the lawsuit is trying to block the enactment of a referendum to gauge voter response to stem cell research financing(which was already passed) and Singh is trying to stop this lawsuit from taking place, to allow voters to make the decision, rather than politicians and lawyers. Baroni opposed the referendum. You should try and read the news before you make sweeping claims and name-call. This is exactly where stupidity in politics begins.
I'm not really sure what you mean by saying LIKELY REPUBLICAN. You talk a lot but not much of it makes any sort of sense. I think you're just having trouble responding to someone who is calling you out on your lies. Sounds like you're the key demographic that the Baroni campaign is trying to hit. Brainwashed much?
Wow
That's pretty weak on Singh's part if true.
Step down
I agree with Assemblyman Richard Merkt that Seema betrayed the publics trust and should drop her bid for the 14th disrict and go home and wait for the US Attorney to call.
Isn't Merkt the same guy
who complained for years after Torricelli dropped his campaign and was replaced on the ballot??? And now he wants someone else to do exactly what he whined about?
And, by the way, he's a surrogate and Myers is a surrogate. If you live in a glass house...
voters
and people wonder why the average person is so cynical towards politics and the govt
commmonsense- get some
commmonsense- get some commonsense.
What the democrats did with Torricelli was completely illegal. The state Supreme Court ignored filing deadlines and allowed them to illegally replace a candidate for the sole reason that he was going to lose. Merkt is saying she should drop out- her name would remain on the ballot. Do you not believe in the rule of law?
Merkt
And the partisan attack dog is released! This issue is much ado about nothing. So, a mistake was made. No one was trying to milk the pension system. The pension system is broken and needs fixing. You can't blame people for working within the system. I'm sure there was no conspiracy here.
" You can't blame people for
" You can't blame people for working within the system. I'm sure there was no conspiracy here."
ignorance is bliss
This is an excellent example
This is an excellent example of why people like Linda Greenstein need to go - they are the old guard, they are a part of the problem. Linda needs to issue her resignation by the end of October. Or?
OK, so nobody has any
OK, so nobody has any alternative ideas... I say she resigns!
WHAT
Why does Linda Greenstein need to go? She hasn't done anything wrong and has been nothing but ethical!
Another reason to vote Independent this November!
There is no difference among parties when it comes to corruption; both are infected with bad people who spend more time looking out for themselves than for you and your family. It's time for a change. No more LAWYERS and no more CAREER POLITICIANS. Vote for Jason Scheurer for State Assembly, the ONLY certified FAIR and CLEAN Independet Candidate in the 14th District.
Linda Greenstein will resign
Linda Greenstein will resign by the end of October, mark my words...
Greenstein???
Maybe you mean Singh. Unless you know something nobody else knows.
And Karcher: "No one was trying to milk the pension system." Are you serious??? It took Singh 6 days to rehire Leora Mosstown after her "retirement". No one was milking the system?? Are you really serious!!!
If that's not milking the system and nobody did anything wrong why are state officials demanding she return so much money?
She milked the system more the farmers milk cows. The only way Singh is innocent is if she was stupid enough not to know what was going on, even though she hired her so quickly after the "retirement"
I don't understand why the 14th Democrats would throw such a obviously bad candidate at Baroni, this will hurt them more then they know it. Baroni was probably going to win anyway but they could have posed a much harder challenge. Singh might as well be voting for Baroni; she's helped him so much as it is.
I know no more than anyone
I know no more than anyone else. I simply know that Greenstein will resign by the end of October.
Goodwin as good as gone
Rumors circulating that Goodwin stepping aside for possible ethical violations. stay tuned.
Rumors...
Now your just spouting out crap. Maybe because the other guy is. Quit starting silly rumors people
Singh should call it
Singh should call it quits...shes ruined the Democrats chances in the 14th, and is ruining Linda's chances. Singh is a disgrace to the Democratic party. Ripping off taxpayers and giving friends jobs sure gives me hope in our political system...shes the one who is supposed to be looking after us and look what she does.
What is going on here!
Everyone keeps talking about how Singh is wrong here. What is going on?? How is it EVER an employer's fault when an employee fraudulently accepts a position that will result in pension abuse? When YOU retire but get asked by your company to stay on as an independent consultant, is it your BOSS' duty to make sure you are legitimately working out your pension issues? NO it isn't. I completely agree that pension fraud may have occurred here, but it really is not Ms. Singh's problem. This is fraud that needs to be taken up with Leora Mosstown. It has never been the problem of the employer to make sure an employee is dealing with their retirement issues.
This whole episode is really just Baroni reaching for whatever he can to bring Singh down to his disgusting level. He has been playing dirty politics from the start, and disgraces the principle of a CLEAN election. Baroni needs to get a life and start talking about the real issues, not just the garbage that is not even related to Singh.
How about...
Because it took the boss six days to rehire the employee after they "retired"?
As if the Singh campaign was playing clean...what was it she called Baroni on national television?
Oh yeah that's right a "Bush Republican"
I wonder how many Bush Republicans are pro-labor and pro-civil unions?
Oh and Singh really knew Baroni's postition on that stem cell research ballot question lawsuit, let me tell you, she was right on the ball.
Baroni
BackwardsJersey - have you ever held a job before? If so, you should know that your employer generally does not have any knowledge of your salary or benefits. It is called a "conflict of interest."
Mosston's shady dealings with salaries and pensions can only be blamed on herself. It is not really anyone else's business, and it is highly unlikely that any employer would concern themselves in the nitty-gritty of salary negotiations. That is exactly what a Human Resources department is for.
If you want to talk about clean elections - why not discuss why Bill Baroni's staff pushed a private citizen to sign her name to a letter bashing Singh? Is that considered clean? If it is, then wow I don't know what you would call dirty and corrupt. Did you notice that the 'staff member' pushing this letter wasn't released from the campaign? I wonder why that is...
Baroni talks a really great game about ending corruption in Jersey. If he is that committed, he should probably sit this election out.
Oh yeah, and check out his vote on the Stem Cell Research Bond Act. It is always good practice to back up your claims with facts. Think about that, in the future.
Learn how to read
I was talking about the lawsuit, not the bond act itself. Now who's the dumbass? Learn how to read.
I'm not going to bother with this anymore... LIKELY REPUBLICAN