Editor's Notebook: Showing a Silver Lining to 2009 New Jersey Cloud

I mentioned in a previous editor's notebook that I was up in Western New York over New Year's to attend a wedding, I want to talk a little about a conversation I had while I was up there. I spent the night before the wedding out at the groom's parents house in Wilson, NY (a rural town out on Lake Ontario) for a little party. During the party I ended up in a two hour conversation on politics and government that ended up with Westfield taking a brief turn which ended up surprising everyone else.

The topic started off as "are politicians honest" and some were curious on my thoughts given that I've been a political reporter for a good period of time. The fact that I've covered politics in New York and New Jersey helped with this, given the spat of headlines in recent years. I was actually more interested in hearing their opinions on this issue, force of habit as a journalist. At one point the conversation turned to how politicians only get into office to make large salaries and to bilk the taxpayer.

In New Jersey's we've seen a history of this, with part time regulatory boards paying the bare minimum for the pension system and other local part time offices paying large salaries and benefits. In addition the stories of double and triple officeholders are legendary.

New York State has seen it to. Many of the part time boards in towns pay stipends there. It's not unheard of for a planning board member to pocket $2,000 for the year or a member of the library board to pocket a grand to attend 10 meetings a year. Definitely not something you see in Westfield.

As the conversation progressed, I decided to ask a question: 'How much do you think Westfield's mayor and Council make each year from the town?' I gave the population, geographic size, annual budget and demographics of the town. I also asked how much do the town supervisor and town board members in Wilson make each year, roughly $5,000 a year for a town of 5,600 people in a larger but less dense area than Westfield.

The guesses for Westfield ranged between $30,000 (what a Union County freeholder makes) to $100,000 (just under what a New York City Councilmember makes). Remember these were guesses for a part time job. Then I announced the actual total, a dollar a year, which has gone uncashed.

Honestly you could have heard a pin drop when I said that. People were stunned that Westfield's local officials do not make salary for the office. Of course I was asked if they get cars or expenses or large staffs or other perks to make up for the lack of salary. So unless Mayor Skibitsky is hiding his large staff and expense account to eat lobster and filet mignon nightly cooked by the mayor's personal chef from everyone, I was pretty safe to say no to this as well.

This was a surprise to a lot of people in that room. Some asked if I was making it up and they were surprised again when I said that I've seen the uncashed checks. Of course I clarified that Westfield is an anamaly as other localities do pay salaries to their Council members. Cranford pays $2,000, Garwood pays $1,500, Jersey City pays $30,000 and the county pays $30,000 just to name a few. And the members of the state Board of Physical Therapy make annual stipends for five meetings a year.

And yes I am not naive enough to know that not everyone gets into local politics for the good of the town, that they may have another motive, be it running for higher office or getting clout. Please note I am not accusing anyone in Westfield of this.

It is just nice to know sometimes that you can surprise people with something as simple as Westfield's political pay structure. Nice to know that you gave just a glimmer of hope that maybe there is something different out there. Just give an example of how things are done in our neck of the woods.

It's also nice to know after the headlines that have gone out about New Jersey over 2009, about the indictments and convictions and the ethics problems and one arrest sweep nabbing 44 public officials, including the mayor of Hoboken and two assemblymen, that we could still surprise people. And that our state could surprise people from New York and Florida and Mississippi in a good way. That they could see that somehow even with the unfortunate reputation that New Jersey has earned that maybe there is a silver lining to our clouds.

And to answer the original question from that conversation, "are politicians honest?" From what I've seen in my career, some are and some are not. I know - not original, but it's the truth.