It depends what the definition of funding is.....

NJ may not be the most corrupt State in the Union (I'm looking at you, Illinois), but if you wait long enough -- we might just hit #1!

Many people have wondered how we could survive with Union pensions and salaries constantly on the rise. Apparently the answer was - until the Securities and Exchange Commission found out that:

In 79 municipal bond offerings, the State misrepresented and failed to disclose material information regarding its under funding of New Jersey’s two largest pension plans, the Teachers’ Pension and Annuity Fund (“TPAF”) and the Public Employees’ Retirement System (“PERS”). More specifically, the State did not adequately disclose that it was under funding TPAF and PERS, why it was under funding TPAF and PERS, or the potential effects of the under funding.

That's right! Apparently if you don't pay your bills, there's more money in the bank.

Also from the report:

These misrepresentations and omissions created the fiscal illusion that TPAF and PERS were being adequately funded and masked the fact that New Jersey was unable to make contributions to TPAF and PERS without raising taxes or cutting other services, or otherwise impacting the budget.

Lest you think it was those tax and spend democrats or the spend without taxing republicans - The NY Times reports:

The misstatements began during the Republican administration of Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco and continued under Democratic administrations, including those of James McGreevey and Jon Corzine.

By the time Gov. Chris Christie took office this year, the pension funds had been deprived of contributions for so long that it had become near impossible to catch up.

This of course has led to massive cuts in education and other areas.

From the Times: The S.E.C. said the fraud began in 2001, when New Jersey increased retirement benefits for teachers and general state employees. New Jersey did not have the money to put behind the new benefits, but every year after that, the state treasurer certified that the pensions were being funded according to the plan.

Of course, if you have been following the SEC - when they are ACTUALLY WORKING (by the way, no one got in trouble for that either), you'd know that a Judge in NY blasted the SEC for merely letting Bank of America off with a similar slap on the wrist and letting them stick it to the stockholders for their fraud. Now comes news that another Judge (in DC this time) is refusing to approve the SEC's settlement with Citigroup.


Unfortunately, no individuals have been name, there's no fine and no one will likely lose a job over this. So you can count on NJ making headlines for corruption in the future - unless Illinois beats us to them.