We need public services. And we need people and contractors to supply them. And that can be costly. And the public unions and private contractors are not the problem.  After all, people in the public sector have as much entitlement to personal ambition as those in the private.  Why blame them for getting the best deals for themselves?  But, if you want to know why your state and local taxes are going up and up – and will get worse exponentially – you owe it to yourself to check out The Record series on the pay and benefits of our state's 500,000 public employees.

The balance of power between the bill payers (you, the taxpayer) and the powerful, politically connected payees (public employee unions, pay-to-play contractors and developers, patronage jobholders, insiders) has been radically skewed.  Those entrusted with representing you in negotiations with service providers have a conflict of interest.  Our pay-to-play system allows politicians to use our public money to reward campaign donors. County political parties are the buffers for the transaction.

All politicians need organized support and money so they can fund their campaigns and careers. Unlike most of us, unions, contractors and political organizations are organized and supply the predictable support/money needed.  No one gets something for nothing.  The players know the game and profit from the political system without much interference from the vast number of us, the citizens, who are unengaged. In point of fact, it appears that we "normal people" pay NOT TO PLAY. We want to go on with our private lives.  We don't want to deal with the messiness, ugliness, turmoil and difficulties of the public sphere, so we outsource that stuff. And we hope that everything, from law enforcement to bridge safety, is well stewarded on autopilot.   But, from the national level to the local, that bit of citizen naivete continues to drain the public treasury as it subverts the public interest and puts us at risk.

Here in pay-to-play New Jersey, county political party organizations like County Boss Ferriero's BCDO, connect the private players to public money. County machine candidates get generous funding from County bosses who, according to state law,  can legally collect way more than any candidate (17 times more per donor!). The pay-to-play quid pro quo occurs when the elected machine politicians give the shirt off YOUR back to their "friends" by means of no-bid public contracts and favorable employment packages from your public treasury. This continues unopposed as voter/taxpayers seem disengaged and distracted.  Evidence?  The latest Quinnipiac poll reveals that voters care more about their latest property tax rebates than the corruption that hijacks their money and causes the problem.

The budgetary crisis has evolved gradually.  Years ago, when public wages were lower than those in the private sector, benefits and pensions were an enticement to prospective employees.  Now that public sector wages have more than caught up to the average taxpayer's income, these benefit enticements seem carved in stone  even as the costs for them have skyrocketed exponentially.

At this time, taxpayers seem more apathetic than upset.  But, without an organized demand for systemic change (like public financing of elections), politically plundered public budgets and the taxes that fund them will become unsustainable. How serious is the situation?  When the Governor would rather sell state assets like the NJ Turnpike than discipline the system, you know we're in trouble.

Next time: Public funding of elections