November 4, 2002: Haines' Golden Parachute Worth More Than $2,000,000

Ocean County Politics .com

Update On The Fourth OCPOLITICS•Com
“Top Ten” Nomination For The List Of
Ten Worst Public Officials In Ocean County

Virginia Haines’ $1,199,242 Inflated Salary And Pension Scam Update

No Wonder There's A Serious Morale Problem Among State Employees Without Political “Connections”

Total Package Has A Value Of More Than $2,135,000

Lottery “Director” Haines Got About $1,199,242 In Extra Political Patronage Perks, Extra Inflated Pension Giveaways, Vacation Junkets, Severance Payoffs And Double Dip Extra Health Insurance Coverages Not Available To The Average State Employee With Similar Clerical Responsibilities

Toms River - OceanCountyPolitics•Com has learned that former Lottery “Director” Virginia Haines’ systematic rip-off of New Jersey taxpayers has resulted in extra pension perks and other extra benefits totaling nearly $1.2 Million in addition to normal pension payments. Governor Christie Whitman gave Haines the lottery job so Haines resigned only a third of the way through her two year state assembly term.

Lick Stamps And Stuff Envelopes – Get $2,135,000 Golden Parachute

The lottery job, a figurehead clerical job, required no education, only the impeccable political credentials of willingness to take orders from political bosses and lick stamps and stuff envelopes.

Her main non-clerical responsibility was to get her picture taken with lottery winners.

Haines licked a lot of stamps, according to O. C. Observer columnist Sam Christopher.

When Haines retired at 55 in February, ten years earlier than most people with real jobs, she got an inflated pension benefit of nearly $5000 a month, one of the largest ever for Ocean County residents. The $5000 monthly payoff was roughly triple the pension of the average state employee.

Pension Payoff Inflated By $107,000 Salary

The inflated pension payoff was due to her politically inflated salary, which reached $107,000 through Whitman’s generosity, despite her lack of qualifications, and despite her giddy arrogance supplementing her income by making the taxpayers pay for 56 out of state vacation junkets, costing more than $57,000 for her, and another $50,000 for 47 more trips for two of her cronies.

The sum of her extra benefits, payoffs and perks, over and above any realistic assessment of what the lottery job was actually worth to the taxpayers, is as follows:

Overpaid by $40,000 a year for seven years	- $280,000	Wasted
Pension Inflated By $2172/Month For 30 years (est)	- $782,242	Wasted
56 Vacation Junkets Totaling More Than 300 Days Paid For By Taxpayers	- $57,000	Wasted
Severance Package Including (No Fooling) $9589.28 for “unused” Vacation Time	- $20,000	Wasted
Double Dip Extra Health Benefits She Grabbed From The DMUA Because She Never Told The DMUA Management She Didn't Need Them	- $60,000	Wasted
Total Political Payoff For Ms. Haines	- $1,199,242	WASTED

That’s how much was wasted. Haines’ total retirement package was worth over $2,135,000.

Political payoffs for hundreds of political flunkies like Haines are a big factor in the near insolvency of the state pension system, and a definite factor in the huge Whitman budget deficit.

Ocean County homeowners will pay big time in the form of increased taxes next year as the Whitman administration's financial chickens come home to roost.
Click here for Haines’ TOP TEN Nomination Story