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.

Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange) today announced chair and committee assignments for the 2010-11 legislative session, naming John Burzichelli (D-Paulsboro) to head the new Regulated Oversight and Gaming Committee, Matthew Milam (D-Vineland) as chairman of the new Tourism and Arts Committee.

Patrick Diegnan (D-South Plainfield) will chair the Education Committee, which Joseph Cryan (D-Union) gave up to become Majority Leader.  Pamela Lampitt (D-Cherry Hill) takes Diegnan’s place as chair of the Higher Education Committee.

Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Englewood) to lead the Housing Committee, and Albert Coutinho (D-Newark) as the Commerce Committee chairman.   Huttle takes the chairmanship held by Oliver, while Coutinho replaces Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton), who backed Bonnie Watson Coleman for Speaker over Oliver.  Watson Coleman, the former Majority Leader, was not given a committee chair.

"These Assembly committee chairs and committee members are a talented group of leaders with the expertise needed to represent New Jersey well as we push forward on our plans to create jobs, reinvigorate New Jersey's economy and combat property taxes," Oliver said. "They will work hard and get the job done for all New Jerseyans."

Assembly Democratic Committee Assignments 2010-2011 Session:

Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton) had a mixed week.  The good: he watched his medical marijuana legislation pass the assembly and move on to the governor’s desk, where it was signed today.  The bad: as the only member of the assembly to back Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Trenton) for speaker, he’s now suffering the consequences. 

Gusciora was bumped from the chairmanship of the Commerce and Economic Development Committee for, he said, backing Coleman over the eventual winner, newly sworn in Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange). 

And he’s mad that nobody told him it was coming.

One day before the Assembly Democrats voted Oliver as their speaker, Gusciora said that Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Union) – who had by then lined up the votes to become majority leader – told him that “he saw no reason that the members would be losing no chairs.  That no changes have been made.” 

Then, last Tuesday, Gusciora said Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Englewood), who caught a glimpse of the committee assignment list, told him that he was no longer on the Commerce Committee at all.

“I think it was disingenuous for (Cryan) to tell me the day before that everything was ok for me,” said Gusciora, who represents the same district as Coleman.  “I guess I was punished for loyalty, and I don’t think that’s an asset that they actually value.”

Later that night, Gusciora got the official word in a letter from Oliver, who requested that he “call the Majority Leader with questions.”

The chairmanship of the commerce committee has not been announced, but Gusciora said it’s going to Albert Coutinho (D-Newark).  Gusciora’s new assignment is to the Higher Education Committee – not a perfect fit for an adjunct professor at The College of New Jersey, since he has to recuse himself from every vote that could affect that school. 

“Here Cryan brags about watching everyone’s back, and that we’re all working together as a team.  He says one thing and does the other,” he said, adding that no other committee chairs were removed. 

To make matters worse, Gusciora said, he only found out that his assembly seating assignment was changed after Assemblywoman Linda Stender told him she had his old seat.

A bill to require New Jersey schools to provide voter registration materials to graduating high school students has received full legislative approval and now head’s to the governor.  The legislation requires schools to provide a voter registration form and a summary of voter registration eligibility requirements to each graduating high school pupil. The material would be nonpartisan and conform to state election laws.

Young adults entering the world after high school need to recognize that voting is more than just a constitutional right, but their societal responsibility,” said Assemblywoman Valerie Huttle (D-Englewood), one of the sponsors. “Teenagers who recognize the importance of voting will undoubtedly become adults who take that responsibility seriously.”

If U.S. Rep. Steven Rothman (D-Fair Lawn) decides not to seek re-election next year, possible candidates for his seat include: State Sens. Robert Gordon (D-Fair Lawn) and Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge), retiring Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes, Assemblyman Gordon Johnson (D-Englewood), Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Englewood), and Bergen County Freeholder Bernadette McPherson.

If State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) loses her bid for Lt. Governor, she could emerge as a strong candidate for Congress.  If Weinberg wins, Huttle is the favorite to take her State Senate seat.  Sarlo, the Senate Judiciary Chairman, has not expressed a huge desire to go to Congress; he is a possible candidate for Senate Majority Leader next year, or to chair the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. 

Wildes, who is not seeking re-election after two terms as mayor, has long been interested in Rothman's congressional seat.  A strong fundraiser, he has $642,983 sitting in a federal campaign account, just in case.

Four Bergen County Democrats -- Valerie Huttle (D-Englewood), Gordon Johnson (D-Englewood), Joan Voss (D-Fort Lee), and Connie Wagner (D-Paramus) -- are expected to endorse Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange) for Assembly Speaker today.  Gary Schaer (D-Passaic) also says he's voting for Oliver.  That would bring her hard count to 39.

Five incumbents seeking re-election have not yet disclosed their choice in the race for Speaker: Gary Schaer (D-Passaic), Elease Evans (D-Paterson), Nellie Pou (D-Paterson), Joan Quigley (D-Jersey City), Vincent Prieto (D-Secaucus), and Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilon).  A seventh incumbent, Anthony Chiappone (D-Bayonne), who is under indictment, has been tossed from the Democratic Caucus.

If Loretta Weinberg is elected Lt. Governor in November, it would mean a January 2010 special election convention to fill her 37th district State Senate seat.  Democrats say the four leading candidates would be Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Englewood), Assemblyman Gordon Johnson (D-Englewood), outgoing Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes, and former Assemblyman Ken Zisa.  Huttle's husband is the Democratic candidate to succeed Wildes as Mayor.

"I intend to move up to the state senate, if the opportunity arises," Johnson told PolitickerNJ.com last month.

Zisa's fortunes could depend on the outcome of former Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero's federal corruption trial.  Zisa and Ferriero are longtime allies.

Updated
If Loretta Weinberg is elected Lt. Governor in November, it would mean a January 2010 special election convention to fill her 37th district State Senate seat.  Democrats say the four leading candidates would be Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Englewood), Assemblyman Gordon Johnson (D-Englewood), outgoing Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes, and former Assemblyman Ken Zisa.  Huttle's husband is the Democratic candidate to succeed Wildes as Mayor.

"I intend to move up to the state senate, if the opportunity arises," Johnson told PolitickerNJ.com today.

Should Johnson or Valerie Huttle go to the Senate, look for one of the Democrats on the Teaneck Township Council to move up to the Assembly, as well as Cid Wilson, a party leader from Leonia who backed off a primary challenge against Huttle and Johnson (D-Englewood) in 2007 and 2009.  That race would be decided in a subsequent special election convention.

The Republican gubernatorial primary is over, but Democrats apparently have no intention of letting fade away the accusation by former candidate Rick Merkt that a friend and advisor of newly minted Republican nominee Chris Christie tried to buy him out of the gubernatorial race.

Assembly members Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton) and Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Englewood) today again called on Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra to investigate whether John Inglesino, a former Morris County freeholder, offered Merkt, an assemblyman from Christie's home town of Mendham, a plum position on the campaign and in a future Christie administration if he dropped his plans to run for governor.

"Three weeks ago, Assemblyman Gusciora and I called on law enforcement to investigate a report of impropriety and see if the law had been broken," said Huttle.  "The politicking of the primary election is now behind us, but the specter of corruption remains. Now is the time to determine if, and to what extent an illegal act took place.  Now that the election is over we need to get to the bottom of this."

Merkt wound up getting a miniscule portion of the vote in Tuesday's primary, although his impact on the race was not clear when he announced his intention to run late in the summer.

The Republican campaign for State Assembly in 2009 is in a full swing already in April. As we reviewed our issues from the Republican campaign for State Assembly in 2007, we realized that despite our defeat at the polls, we have won the war of ideas.

In 2007, we proposed the following: