State workers as good or better than private sector

Herb Combs Jr., Lawrence
To the editor:
I just love people who make generalizations about people — someone like Maria Giordani of Lambertville. Those state workers just “don’t work full days and are held to a lower standard.” This person is clueless at best. I just wonder how my co-workers and I could work nights and weekends knowing that there are people like Maria out there not knowing what we even do and still saying we are lazy and no good.
   Well Maria, from the interaction I had with private industry, I’ll take a state worker any day. I can actually say I ran into more incompetent employees in private industry than in the state. The most problematic state employees were the political appointees.
   People like Maria are usually part of the problem, not part of the solution. She probably does not have the benefits the state workers receive, therefore, since she doesn’t have the benefits the state employees can’t have the benefits either. That’s not the way it works. If qualified, she could have taken civil service tests too. If Maria wants to fix the state pension system, maybe she should call Christie Whitman. The former governor issued bonds to raise money to put into the stock market for the pension system and the market crashed. Whitman is wealthy enough to insert millions into the pension system as a donation. After all, Whitman is the person who helped cause the pension problem. Maybe every person who voted for Whitman should throw in some cash too – but now I’m thinking like Maria. Not good.
   When I retired a few years ago, the state wanted us “long-timers” to retire and guaranteed us our benefits. Well, the cost of living adjustment has been taken away. Whether Maria knows it, there was a negative adjustment last year, so it actually saved the state money. But, thanks to Gov. Chris Christie, you can’t trust what the state told its retirees, event if it’s in writing. No integrity whatsoever.
   I believe George Washington said to the effect that a government without integrity is not a government. So what is it that we now have in New Jersey? Surely not government and, with people thinking like Maria, this state will continue to regress and not move forward in the right direction.
Herb Combs Jr.
Lawrence