Pensiongate in New Jersey?

First there was Bridgegate. Now a new investigative piece in The Nation is asking if Pensiongate is next. 

While pushing for “pension reform,” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie gave big contracts to manage state retiree money to the very Wall Street donors supporting his political ambitions. The problem, reporter Lee Fang writes, is that this outside management is a very, very risky:

State pension plans that rely on hedge funds and other so-called “alternative investments” perform worse overall than those with more conservative strategies such as Treasury notes or the S&P 500, according to many studies, including recent reports from the Maryland Tax Education Foundation and Yale professor Roger Ibbotson. Critics charge that hedge funds not only are far more risky investments, but also that they produce less value because they carry hefty management fees and are entitled to a portion of future profits.

And this in turn hurts public workers -- our CWA brothers and sisters.

At the center of this pension cronyism story is Christie’s high school friend, Robert Grady. Christie named him to the State Investment Council, which has authority over how the pension funds get invested. 

CWA State Director Hetty Rosenstein told The Nation that this is all unsurprising, coming from a governor who has been known to reward his friends:

“This Livingston High School reunion thing that goes on with Chris Christie… David Wildstein, involved in Bridgegate—he went to high school with Chris Christie. Now you’re talking about Bob Grady—he goes back to high school with Chris Christie,” says Rosenstein. “He’s got these long-term relationships with people who then benefit enormously.”

Check out the full story here. 

Christie has been calling out CWA at his last two town hall meetings, accusing us of a series of protests and interruptions, because "CWA's side lost at the polls.”

Of course, protesters have identified themselves as Rutgers or Rowan University students, without a CWA connection.  

We understand why Christie would want to change the subject these days. But blaming CWA insults all the students, environmentalists, housing advocates, civil rights organizations and community groups whose legitimate questions about pensions, Sandy corruption and Bridgegate are being ignored. Perhaps Christie should spend less time complaining and blaming others, and instead listen to what his constituents are upset about and answer their questions.