The administration weighed in this afternoon on an audit by the state comptroller that called into question performance bonuses of as muich as 30 percent paid to top brass at the Middlesex County Improvement Authority, calling the payouts “unabashed trough feeding.”
Governor’s spokesman Michael Drewniak said the bonuses and other perks paid to four top level employees, including Executive Director Richard Pucci who pulled in nearly $250,000 in 2010, is a perfect example of the so-called “shadow governments” that Gov. Chris Christie has railed against.
“You have to wonder who was watching the store at the Middlesex County Improvement Authority as its executives granted all these goodies for themselves,” Drewniak said, referring to the bonuses, car allowances and unused sick time payouts detailed in the report released today by Comptroller Matthew Boxer. “This is unabashed trough feeding, plain and simple, and the sort of stuff the Governor’s Authorities Unit has uncovered in numerous other authorities over which we can exert oversight. This is ‘shadow government’ at work, and the taxpayers of Middlesex County should be justifiably angry and demand accountability for these abuses.”
According to the audit, Pucci received a bonus of $55,000 on top of his salary of $185,000. The bonus was not part of Pucci’s employment contract, but was reportedly based on performance evaluations. The audit found no written evaluation for Pucci, who said it was done verbally. Other top executives receiving bonuses were judged on several vague criteria including their ability to follow directions and whether they dress professionally. In total, four executives were paid nealry $100,000 in annual bonuses.
“Perhaps most remarkable was the ridiculous ‘performance evaluations’ they apparently used to justify bonuses that ran all the way up to an astonishing $55,000 for Mr. Pucci,” Drewniak said. “The criteria was basically that they had to dress appropriately and play well with others? So, beyond that, all they had to do was show up and do the job they already were being handsomely paid to do? In short, this smacks of exactly the type of brazen self-enrichment that we must continue to fight against at every level of government.”
