from APP.com

Anger. Simple anger. Really, what else are New Jerseyans left to feel as tales of lawmakers’ abuse of their positions — and taxpayer money — continue to pile up, repeatedly reminding us of the total vacuum of leadership in Trenton? There are no surprises anymore, just another turn of the screws.

Consider the recent reports of the massive retirement payout awaiting state Sen. Nicholas Sacco, D-Hudson-Bergen, who has managed to accrue a ridiculous amount of unused sick time thanks to a triple-dipping collection of public jobs — he is also a longtime assistant school superintendent and longtime mayor in North Bergen. He is now sitting on a fat golden-years nest egg of more than $330,000 in public funds — and the number is still growing.

Sacco, who makes $233,725 a year as an assistant school superintendent, also reportedly traded in 91 of his unused vacation days over the past five years, netting him $101,504.

Even Sacco can’t pretend that any of this makes sense. He was quoted as acknowledging that while it may not be fair to taxpayers, it’s in his contract.

We’re supposed to believe he’s just an innocent beneficiary of an overly generous perk? He’s a legislator. He’s one of the politicians who has been setting the rules that have allowed this kind of abuse to go unchecked for many years, turning sick days — which should be used for just that, being sick — into a retirement benefit.

He and most of his Statehouse colleagues have manipulated this and countless other issues for their own benefit, with little if any consideration of the greater public good.

So while the lawmakers — under growing public pressure — willingly capped payouts for future employees at $15,000, they’ve made no move to restrain their own benefits. Legislation has stalled, with Gov. Chris Christie complaining that Democrats haven’t gone far enough. He shot down a plan that would have allowed existing workers to keep accrued time but prevent accumulating more.

The Democrats countered that Christie was going too far in attacking existing contracts to try to reduce benefits already awarded. They said such an effort would be legally doomed, so they won’t even try.

It’s no coincidence, by the way, that 15 lawmakers — all but one a Democrat — are now holding onto whopping amounts of unused time that can be turned into cash. Don’t expect them to do anything to reduce the size of their pot of gold sitting in the trough at the end of the rainbow.