March 21, 2010 (Kearny, NJ) Our Poll "Is Governor Christie Too Tough on the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (PVSC)?" shows that there is little sympathy for the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission among our readership. Ninety Four and a Half Percent (94.5%) of the poll participants did not think that Governor Chris Christie was being "too tough" on the PVSC. Only Five and a half percent (5.5%) thought that the Governor was being "too tough". There were a total of 109 participants in the poll. The vote totals broke down 103 votes for No the Governor was not being too tough versus 6 that he was being too tough.

During the course of our poll, the Director of the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission Executive Director Bryan Christiansen retired from his $330,000 a year job. Christiansen will receive a reported $175,000 per year during his retirement.



PVSC employees about 600 people and has a payroll of roughly $48 million. It treats water for 1.3 million North Jersey residents. Several West Hudson County politicians are employed by PVSC including Harrison Mayor Raymond McDonough, East Newark Mayor Joseph Smith, Harrison Councilman Larry Bennett, and former Harrison Councilman Art Pettigrew. PVSC has been a topic of discussion throughout the years at KOTW's Discussion Board. Well before Governor Chris Christie was elected KOTW members and guests had pointed out the political nature of jobs at PVSC (or as some of those politically connected refer to it as the Valley).

Prior to Executive Director Bryan Christiansen retiring, Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak stated that “It’s something that I don’t think any New Jersey taxpayer can get their arms around, somebody making a $313,000 salary. It’s not just that – it’s the way they handle their professional services contracts. In-house versus outside contracts. It’s outrageous in every way, and it’s remarkable what some of these authorities have grown into over the decades. So this is just the sort of thing that we have to get a handle on. Yes, there will be scrutiny.”

Maybe Christie can use the information posted for years on KOTW's Discussion Board? Our readers agree with him. May we suggest that the Governor visit our Discussion Board and do a search for PVSC and review the posts.