Corzine To Parks Employees And Advocates: Political Cronies On Our Payroll Are More Important Than You

Senator Jenifer Beck issued the following statement regarding Governor Corzine's plan to fire park rangers and close state parks even while patronage jobs remain on DEP's payroll.

"Governor Jon Corzine's conscious decision to keep patronage cronies on the payroll at DEP even while he is firing park rangers and closing parks is beyond unconscionable."

The following personnel at DEP are just two of the many patronage cronies Jon Corzine hired since becoming Governor and who he continues to insist are more important than parks employees.

1) Former Executive Director of the Arizona Democratic Party

A former executive Director of the Arizona Democratic Party (Cortland Coleman) was appointed a "confidential secretary" at DEP on July 7, 2007 for $75, 000. He didn't even live in New Jersey when he was hired. You can find out all about this hire by going to his website, http://cortland.squarespace.com/, where you can find his resume and a description of his new duties at DEP – "Wrote speeches, talking points and background briefing papers for agency leadership."

2) Caretaker at Drumthwacket Paid for with the Parks Budget

A former employee of Jon Corzine's U.S. Senate office (Elizabeth Mattson) was hired in the first week of Corzine's term as a "Caretaker, Drumthwacket" for $63, 252.30. She is paid out of the parks budget – the same budget where rank and file employees are being fired, resulting in closed parks.