New Jersey Watchdog has won a New York Press Club Award for its investigative reporting on “retired” public officials who collect both pensions and paychecks from the state.
In the category of political coverage, judges selected “60 NJ State ‘Double-Dippers’ Collect $10 Million Per Year” as the winner. The story by investigative reporter Mark Lagerkvist was published [...]

A New Jersey lawmaker is pushing a bill to stop retired school administrators from double-dipping by collecting both pensions and salaries from post-retirement school jobs.
Assemblyman Ralph Caputo, D-Essex, cited an investigation by New Jersey Watchdog and NBC 4 New York that found 45 retired superintendents employed as interim school administrators, collecting $4 million a year [...]

 
New Jersey Watchdog’s investigations of disability pension abuse were hot topics on Fox Business News.
Investigative reporter Mark Lagerkvist was a guest on the “Varney & Co.” program.
The discussion began with NJ Watchdog’s report on a Morris County sheriff’s deputy who received a disability pension after claiming he was traumatized by what he saw at crime scenes.  After he [...]

New Jersey’s elite $100K Club of retired public officials is growing bigger and fatter.
The number of retirees collecting more than $100,000 a year from state pensions hit 1,474 in 2012 – an increase of nearly 50 percent in two years, according to a New Jersey Watchdog analysis of state pension data.
Former Jersey City school superintendent [...]

Who collects the biggest public pensions from the State of New Jersey?
Former Jersey City school superintendent Charles Epps heads the list with a $195,000 annual pension.  When he stepped down last year amid controversy and a gag order, Epps also received a $268,200 settlement plus $85,000 for unused sick time, according to NJ.com.
All of the [...]

Where do public employees work to get their $100,000-a-year pensions?
Paterson leads all New Jersey local governments with 29 retirees getting six-figure pensions. The city is followed by Hoboken and Paramus, each with 22; North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue with 21; and Newark, Edison Township and Jersey City Fire Department with 19 a piece.
Click here [...]

The number of retired public workers receiving $100,000 a year or more in New Jersey state pensions has risen by nearly 50 percent in the past two years.  Last year, membership in the $100K Club increased to 1,474 – up from 992 retirees in 2010 and 1,244 in 2011.
Click here for the full story.
Here is [...]

To commemorate Sunshine Week and the concept of open government, New Jersey Watchdog’s Mark Lagerkvist wrote an account story of his recent investigation on double-dipping school superintendents.  Here is the article published by the Watchdog.org national site:
A recent New Jersey Watchdog investigation revealed 45 “retired” school chiefs had returned to the public payroll, double-dipping millions of dollars a [...]

New Jersey Watchdog gives two paws up to Pam Lobley’s column on double-dipping posted by New Jersey Newsroom.  Check it out at: http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/state/new-jersey-double-dippers-raking-in-the-money

Without asking questions, the New Jersey Senate rubber-stamped Stephen J. Taylor as Superior Court judge.
The nomination of Taylor, director of the Division of Criminal Justice since 2010, sailed through the Senate Judiciary Committee and full Senate without dissention.  It was part of a bi-partisan deal between Gov. Chris Christie and the Democrat-controlled Senate, as reported [...]