Christie connections lead to top jobs, salary bumps at
NJ Transit, report says
Updated Dec 18, 2017; Posted Dec 18, 2017
High level NJ Transit officials have
followed a path from the Christie administration to the agency's executive
level in positions ranging from second-in-command to overseeing the
agency's multi-billion dollar capital programs, according to a report.
The report by the
NorthJersey.com detailed 10 hires and promotions of officials since
2014 with connections to the Christie administration. Some received raises up
to $70,000. All but one of them makes over $100,000.
Politically connected hires, some
without transportation experience, have been scrutinized by lawmakers probing
the agency after a Sept. 29, 2016 train crash that killed a woman walking in
Hoboken Terminal.
At one hearing, Todd Barreta a former NJ Transit
compliance officer official testified NJ Transit has a "culture of
(employees) going along with what political appointees want or (they) get
out."
Some of those
appointees, such as Deputy Director Amy Herbold, left NJ Transit last month as
the Christie administration enters its final days. She replaced Neil Yellin, who
NJ Transit officials said retired from the position in May 2016.
Herbold was a former senior counsel in the Governor's Authorities Unit.
Herbold's appointment was
announced on May 12, 2016 which came with a $190,000 salary, a
$70,000 increase over her salary as a Christie aide, according to the
report. Yellim earned $199,000 and was recruited from New York's
Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Yellin, 66, later filed a lawsuit in
November 2016 in Essex County, charging NJ Transit with age discrimination. A
state attorney general's response to the suit denied the allegations.
Another
official with a Christie connection is NJ Transit Chief of Staff Jaqueline
Halldow, who shuttled back and forth between NJ Transit and the governor's
office.
She was hired in June 2010 and was chief of staff for five
years, earning a $132,000 salary according to NJ Transit salary records.
She left NJ Transit to work as Christie's Deputy Chief of Staff
for communications in May 2016.
She returned to her former NJ Transit job in June. NJ
Transit officials said she was needed during the Amtrak track replacement
project in Penn Station, New York. The project reduced rail service
by 25 percent and forced some trains to be relocated to Hoboken Terminal for
the summer.
Halldow had three years transportation experience as Vice
President of Communications for the Rochester, New York Transportation
Authority, where she managed customer communications, internal messaging, and
capital program leadership, according to her
Linked-In resume. Her salary almost doubled between the two transit
agencies from $81,000 in Rochester to $156,000, the Record reported.
Christie
spokesman Brian Murray told the Record that people have made lateral moves
in government or leaving state employment without any public announcements. NJ
Transit spokeswoman Nancy Snyder said that Halldow took on added
responsibilities when she returned.
Other ranking NJ Transit officials came from Patton-Boggs, a
legal firm hired by Christie to defend the state against federal
efforts to have the state repay $271 million in grants for the ARC Tunnel
project that Christie canceled in October 2010.
Eric
Daleo was an attorney at Patton-Boggs for three years before he was hired as a
special advisor to the Governor's Office of Recovery and Rebuilding. After
working there for one year and five months, NJ Transit hired Daleo in as Senior
Director of Superstorm Sandy Disaster Recovery and Reliance.
In
late 2016, newly appointed NJ Transit Executive Director Steven Santoro named
Daleo to his former job as director of capital planning and projects at a
salary of $175,500. He oversees the agencies $1.3 billion capital program.
Daleo's boss at Patton-Boggs, Megan Strickland joined NJ Transit in
February 2015 as the director of compliance for its resiliency
programs. After a year in that post, she was promoted to her current position
as Senior Director of Compliance, Reporting and Control in August 2016 where
she earns $121,000, according to NJ Transit salary records.
A former Christie aide, Jared Pilosio took over
managing NJ Transit's $1.8 billion Superstorm Sandy resiliency and recovery
projects, coming by way of the Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey.
Pilosio
worked as an aide to Christie from November 2009 to February 2011 and left to
work as a special assistant to the chairman of the state Republican Committee
for one year. He worked as External Affairs Representative at the Port
Authority for more than three years before being hired at NJ Transit in April
2015 at a salary of $74,500.
Former Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak was hired to a $147,400
job in February 2015 as the agency's first policy and strategic planning
director, a position that officials created for him.
Drewniak's
hiring prompted lawmakers to look at other patronage hires at NJ Transit.
"At
least 10 other people are compensated more than Drewniak and have similar connections
to the administration," said Assemblyman John McKeon, D-Morris, who
co-chairs a committee investigating NJ Transit. The committee is expected to
recommend ways to reform NJ Transit next year.
Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on
Twitter @commutinglarry.
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Christie allies at NJ Transit got promotions, raises as
agency struggled to fund its operations
NJ Transit with
ties to Gov. Chris Christie got promotions and pay increases as the agency
struggled to recruit and retain enough workers to operate.
Christie allies at NJ Transit got
promotions, raises as agency struggled to fund its operations
Curtis Tate, Staff Writer, @tatecurtis Published
5:30 a.m. ET Dec. 18, 2017 | Updated 1:26 p.m. ET March 6, 2018
NJ Transit hired or promoted 10 employees connected to
Gov. Chris Christie's administration as it hemorrhaged staff needed
to operate safely and reliably, The Record and NorthJersey.com found after reviewing
months of legislative testimony, court documents and state employee
salary data.
The jobs at the
nation's third largest public-transit agency all came with raises — some
bumps as high as $70,000 — and ranged from the agency's chief of
staff to positions in charge of planning and procurement to
those managing Superstorm Sandy resilience projects.
They include a
chief of compliance who makes more than her ousted predecessor and a
deputy executive director who made more than the interim executive director at
the time.
One, Jared
Pilosio, was a protege of David Wildstein, the admitted mastermind of the
Bridgegate lane closures at the George Washington Bridge. Wildstein pleaded
guilty and cooperated with prosecutors, leading to the conviction of two other
Christie aides.
The salary
bumps range from $13,000 to as high as $70,000. The median salary for a state
worker in 2016 was $72,953, according to the state Civil Service Commission.
All but
one of the 10 employees with Christie connections wound up making
more than $100,000 at NJ Transit. Most of the promotions occurred since
2014.
NJ Transit
carries more than 500,000 riders on an average weekday. The agency was
once considered a model for mass transit, but after years of lackluster state
funding, it struggles to fully fund its operations and capital improvement
program.
The agency
denies that any Christie administration worker was given special
preference over career NJ Transit employees or other qualified
candidates for any senior position. Christie, as governor, has great
influence over NJ Transit, holding the ability to veto its actions simply by
refusing the sign its minutes.
The promotion of political appointees at the agency has
echoes of how the Christie administration operated the Port Authority of New
York and New Jersey. Dozens of Christie loyalists were placed at the Port Authority, allowing
the administration to wield significant influence over the powerful
bi-state agency.
The promotion
of Christie allies at NJ Transit also overlaps a tumultuous period that included
close scrutiny of the agency by federal regulators, canceled trains,
broken-down equipment and its first fatal rail accident in 20 years.
John
Wisniewski, a state assemblyman who unsuccessfully ran for governor and led the
legislative investigation of Bridgegate, said the Christie administration had
turned NJ Transit from an agency where people wanted to come to work to a
place where they had no future.
"Sadly,
I’m not surprised this governor’s administration was micromanaging a state
agency," Wisniewski said. "He did that at the Port
Authority."
Back and forth
Jacqueline
Halldow was NJ Transit's chief of staff for five years, until Christie tapped
her to work in the governor's office in April 2016 as deputy chief of staff of
communications.
After 14 months
in Trenton, she quietly returned to her old job at NJ Transit in June.
She now
earns $24,000 more than when she left — an 18 percent jump.
During her
first stint as chief of staff, she earned $132,000, according to state payroll
data. Her job at Christie's office came with a $140,000 salary. When she
returned to the agency, she was making $156,000.
In her time in
New Jersey, Halldow has almost doubled the salary she earned working for the
Rochester-Genesee Transportation Authority in western New York. In 2010, she
earned $81,000 as vice president of marketing and communications for the
agency, according to that state's public data.
On June 6,
Halldow officially resumed her old job at NJ Transit, according to
a statement sent internally at the agency. Halldow's return to NJ Transit
was not announced publicly.
The internal
statement cited the need for "a full complement of experienced
personnel" to assist executive director Steven Santoro in addressing the
agency's response to Amtrak's track work in New York Penn Station over the
summer.
Brian Murray, a
Christie spokesman, said Halldow was paid the salary attached to her
position, which was the same as all other deputy chiefs to the governor.
"People
have been making lateral moves in government or leaving state employ completely
without any public announcements," Murray said. "That would be normal
for the waning months of an administration that has held the governor seat for
eight years."
Nancy Snyder,
NJ Transit's senior director of public information, said Halldow assumed
additional responsibilities when she returned to NJ Transit in June, including
oversight of government and external affairs and communications strategy.
Snyder said
Halldow was "instrumental" in planning for the Pope's visit in 2015,
a potential rail labor stoppage in 2016 and Amtrak's emergency track repairs in
New York Penn Station this year. Snyder also credited Halldow for
spearheading an effort called Scorecard to improve communication with NJ
Transit customers.
"Jacqueline
Halldow, whether working at NJ Transit or this governor’s office, was
carrying out her job responsibilities," Snyder said. "Over the years,
Halldow has been instrumental in planning the communications and other aspects
of a number of major events."
Pushed aside?
Amy Herbold received a $70,000 salary increase when
she joined NJ Transit in 2016 as its deputy executive director, the No. 2
official at the agency.
In 2014, as an aide to Christie, her salary
was $120,000. When she moved to NJ Transit in May 2016, Herbold was bumped
58 percent to $190,000, according to state employee payroll data.
At the time, Herbold's salary was $10,000 more than NJ
Transit's interim executive director, Dennis Martin, who'd been at the agency
for more than three decades.
Herbold replaced Neil Yellin, a veteran of the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority who'd been tapped by NJ Transit in
2014.
In November 2016, Yellin filed an age discrimination
lawsuit in Superior Court in Essex County.
Yellin claimed that NJ Transit fired him "on account
of his age" and replaced him with Herbold, "who is considerably
younger" and "does not remotely possess the experience and
qualifications that he has in the public transit industry."
According to Herbold's résumé, she graduated
from college in 2001 and earned a law degree in 2007. While working for
Christie from 2013 to 2016, Herbold served as the governor's representative on
the NJ Transit board and the Delaware Valley Regional Planning
Commission.
Yellin, who's 66, also claimed in the
lawsuit that Snyder misled news organizations when she told them he had decided to retire from
the agency "after many years in public transit."
In the complaint, Yellin said he was told that the agency
wanted to go in a "different direction," and that Herbold would take
his place.
At the time he was hired, an NJ Transit press release called
Yellin "a leader in policy administration and administrative
functions, including human resources, training, contracts and
procurement."
Yellin is
seeking back pay and benefits, compensatory and punitive damages and
attorney's fees. A jury trial has been set for June.
While Snyder
said NJ Transit couldn't comment on pending litigation, an answer to Yellin's
complaint filed by the state attorney general's office in March denies the
allegations and seeks to have the suit dismissed.
Snyder noted
that Herbold was paid less than Yellin. State records show the difference was
about $10,000. Herbold left NJ Transit last month.
Moving up
Halldow and
Herbold weren't the only ones who received salary bumps as they moved into or
around NJ Transit.
In most cases,
employees of other state agencies or authorities who were hired at NJ Transit
saw a pay increase over their previous positions. And in at least one example,
an employee who had worked for the law firm that represented Christie in the
Bridgegate matter received two promotions — and two pay increases — in
three years.
Eric Daleo was
working as a government representative for the state police in 2014, with a
salary of $110,000. When Daleo came to NJ Transit as senior director of
Superstorm Sandy recovery and resilience, he received a salary
of $132,000, a 20 percent bump.
When Santoro
became NJ Transit's executive director in 2016, Daleo was promoted to Santoro's
old job, assistant executive director of capital programs and planning. His new
salary: $175,000.
Before working
in state government, Daleo was an attorney at Patton Boggs, the firm Christie
retained during Bridgegate. Daleo left the firm, now known as Squire Patton
Boggs, in January 2013, nearly a year before the Bridgegate scandal became
public.
Christine
Baker, who made $134,000 in 2016 as counsel to the state attorney general,
became NJ Transit's chief of compliance after the agency fired
Todd Barretta in August. Barretta's salary was $175,000. According to
state data, Baker earns $180,000.
Megan
Strickland, who like Daleo had worked for Patton Boggs, was hired in 2015 as
director of program compliance at $110,000. In 2016, Strickland became senior
director of program compliance, reporting and control, making $121,000. This
year, Strickland moved up yet again, to become chief of capital compliance,
budget and administration at $141,000.
Perhaps the
best-known name from the Christie orbit who went to work for NJ Transit was
Michael Drewniak, formerly an aide to the governor and one of his fiercest
defenders in Bridgegate.
Drewniak made
$134,000 at the governor's office in 2014. When he came to NJ Transit as chief
of policy and strategic planning in 2015, he made $147,000.
Snyder said
promotions and salary increases had nothing to do with whether the NJ Transit
employees who received them had worked for the governor.
All employees
are given a chance to apply for senior jobs that come open, she said, and the
agency posts all job openings on an internal website. The agency
helps them advance by training them on résumé-writing and job-interviewing
skills, Snyder said.
"Like all
organizations, employee salaries are driven by the position’s inherent
responsibilities," she said. "Salary ranges for each grade and each
position recognize that an applicant’s education, knowledge and experience may
warrant slightly higher or lower compensation."
Chaotic time
The personnel moves
involving Christie associates overlap a chaotic time at NJ Transit.
The Federal
Railroad Administration launched a safety compliance audit of the agency in
early 2016. In late September 2016, a commuter train crashed into Hoboken
Terminal, killing one person and injuring more than 100 others in the
railroad's first fatal incident in two decades.
NJ Transit lost
93 senior rail supervisors between early 2014
and mid-2016, to retirement and better-paying jobs, according to documents the
agency sent federal regulators. And according to personnel rosters, NJ Transit has been losing locomotive engineers this year
to Metro-North, which pays its engineers higher base salaries.
Meanwhile, NJ Transit's most recent quarterly progress report to
federal regulators on positive train control, dated Sept. 30,
shows the agency remains far behind on installing the collision-avoidance
system, which is supposed to be completed in December 2018.
Throughout the
past year, state lawmakers have been scrutinizing the agency in a series of
hearings, including one in August when the agency's ousted
compliance chief said political patronage had become a serious problem that
affected its ability to operate safely.
That former compliance chief,Barretta, referred to a
"club" of individuals connected to Christie who bullied and
intimidated career agency employees.
"You’re not allowed to speak out against
anyone," he testified on Aug. 25, not long after he was
fired. "It’s a culture of either going along with what the political
appointees want, or you lose and you get out."
NJ Transit sued
Barretta following his testimony, claiming that he misused his agency car and
disclosed privileged information.
In
October, agency officials wrote lawmakers they would not produce
any more documents for their investigation.
Reporter Dustin
Racioppi contributed to this story.
Connections pay
Ten NJ Transit
employees with ties to Gov. Chris Christie whose moves into or within NJ
Transit paid off.
Amy Herbold, deputy executive
director Old: $120,000. New: $190,000.
Change: 58%
Jacqueline
Halldow, chief of
staff
Old: $132,000. New:
$156,000. Change: 18%
Eric Daleo, assistant executive director of
capital planning and programs
Old: $110,000. New: $175,000. Change: 59%
Christine Baker, chief of compliance
Old: $134,000. New: $180,000. Change: 34%
Megan
Strickland, chief of
capital compliance, budget and administration
Old: $110,000. New: $141,000. Change:
28%
Michael
Drewniak, chief of
policy and strategic planning
Old: $134,000. New: $147,000. Change: 10%
Bradford Mason, director of capital resilience and
continuity
Old: $115,000. New: $129,000. Change: 12%
Jignasa
Desai-McCleary, chief of procurement and support services
Old: $130,000. New: $165,000. Change: 26%
Jaibala Patel, chief financial officer and
treasurer
Old: $103,000.
New: $160,000. Change: 55%
Jared Pilosio, manager of Superstorm Sandy recovery
and resilience project
Old: $40,000. New: $75,000. Change: 87%
Notes: Pilosio
also worked for the Port Authority. Patel and Herbold have left NJ Transit.
Mason's original salary at the state Office of Homeland Security and
Preparedness was $97,000. Daleo's original salary was at the State Police.
NJ Transit director leaving in April,
reports say
By ROI-NJ Staff
Trenton | Jan 5, 2018 at 10:20 am
Trenton | Jan 5, 2018 at 10:20 am
New Jersey Transit
Executive Director Steven Santoro is stepping down, according to multiple published reports.
Santoro,
who has been with the transit agency for 18 years, became its leader in 2016,
following the fatal crash of a commuter train in Hoboken. His departure in
April, reports said, will make him the second member of NJ Transit
leadership to resign since Gov.-elect Phil Murphy’s November election victory.
Deputy Director Amy Herbold resigned in November.
Murphy has promised to revamp the
agency, calling it a “national disgrace,” according to reports.
NJ.com said incoming governors normally
replace the NJ Transit chief with their own appointee.
Ghermezian
political contributions in New Jersey
A review of
campaign-finance documents since 2011, when Triple Five entered the picture
after two failed efforts by previous developers, show contributions from those
with ties to the project total more than $350,000, and many who gave money to
Christie’s unsuccessful presidential campaign donated up to the maximum amount
allowed. Members of the Ghermezian family, the driving force behind Triple
Five, have also made contributions to the state Republican Party, the records
indicate….
The contributions to
Christie’s presidential campaign collected just from Triple Five executives
totaled nearly $9,000, according federal records. Triple Five executive vice
president Martin Walrath and general counsel and vice president of strategy
Joseph Calascibetta each donated $2,600, and senior vice president for
development Tony Armlin donated $2,700, according to federal records. Glenn
Scotland, special counsel for Ameream, donated $1,000 to Christie For
President, the records show.
Federal records also show
$10,000 contributions were made to the New Jersey Republican Party’s federal
account earlier this year by two members of the Ghermezian family, Syd
Ghermezian and Aviva Ghermezian. Walrath and Calascibetta also made $10,000
contributions to the state GOP as well, federal records indicate.
