Haas Uses Christie Comments to Push Pension Reform

Councilman Dave Haas is hoping he has found an ally in Gov. Chris Christie in his continuing push to eliminate pensions for part time attorneys in town government.

Haas, the vice chairman of the finance committee, circulated an e-mail to his Town Council colleagues bringing up Christie's call to remove part time employees from the pension system. He was asking if other members of the 8-1 Republican Council would be in favor of reconsidering the issue of continuing to keep part time employees in the pension system. Currently, the state prohibits new part time hires from entering the system, but Westfield's legal staff has been grandfathered in. The issue has consistently pitted Haas, the Council's lone Democrat, against his Republican colleagues.

In an interview with Westfield Patch, Haas said that while he does not believe the feelings of the Republican majority have changed, he wanted to continue to raise the item for discussion during the current budget process. He said he had concerns with the budget burden the local pensions can add to the state's budget problem, language similar to that used by Christie.

"I think it is the wrong thing to do," Haas said. "(Assemblyman) Jon Bramnick, (Senate Minority Leader) Tom Kean and Chris Christie have all spoken against it, yet we continue to do it."

Bramnick, the Westfield Republican chairman, has said that while he is against the practice he does not want to comment on Westfield's specific case, noting he has not studied the town's legal services contracts. He noted that in some cases pensions have already been guaranteed for long serving employees.

Gubernatorial chief of staff Rich Bagger, a former Westfield mayor, also declined to comment on the town's specific pension situation. In comments similar to Bramnick's he said he would need to study the local situation before commenting. Bagger did reiterate that Christie is against the practice.

Haas said he is not looking to take pensions from any employee already vested, but rather change the process for the future. He said the town could save two percent a year for every employee already vested in future pension costs. This savings would be passed on to the state pension system as well. Haas said he developed the calculation based on the state's pension formula.

Haas said that from his discussions with other members of the Council, that there could be some additional support for making the change. He declined to identify which members could join him in voting to make the change. Haas was backed on the issue for the last four years by former Democratic Councilman Tom Bigosinski.

The issue became a top matter of contention in the 2009 Fourth Ward race between Bigosinski and Republican Keith Loughlin, who ousted the one term incumbent. Bigosinski continued to stress the need to eliminate the pensions, while Loughlin said there would be minimal costs savings and it would keep experienced attorneys on the job. Loughlin is the son of Board of Adjustment attorney Vincent Loughlin, who receives pension credits for the part time post. The younger Loughlin has abstained from all votes involving his father's employment with the town.

The pension issue has been a long time cause for Westfield Democrats, who have only controlled town government once in history. According to former Councilman Tom Pluta, the issue was raised by him and his Democratic colleagues in the 1970s during budget discussions.

The pension issue has not been discussed by the finance committee during current budget discussions. Councilman Mark Ciarrocca, the committee's chairman, said the issue will be discussed along with other issues in town. Ciarrocca said the committee will discuss all issues relating to possible budget savings. It is not clear when the committee will discuss the pension issues.

Haas said he will continue to raise the issue and indicated that it should be more in line with his colleagues' political views.

"It violates several conservative financial principles," Haas said of the current practice. "We are continuing to have future obligations we are not funding."