Garden State Suicide

Jersey lawmakers just don’t get it: The state’s massive pension-fund shortfalls last week prompted Moody’s to downgrade Trenton’s credit rating for the 11th time under Gov. Chris Christie, yet the Legislature wants to make the problems worse.

Moody’s cited New Jersey’s gargantuan, and growing, unfunded pension liabilities as key to its decision to lower the state’s rating from A2 to A3 — the second downgrade in four months.

The move reflects the “negative impact of significant pension underfunding” and “a persistent structural imbalance,” wrote Moody’s analyst Baye Larsen. Despite Christie’s notable boosts in payments to the funds, state contributions “remain well below the actuarial recommended” amount.

Yet lawmakers (of both parties) want Christie to sign a bill that would hand control of one of the state’s biggest funds — for police and firefighter pensions — to their union representatives.

“Giving management to the pension beneficiaries removes political interest from the investments and places responsibility with the employees who will benefit,” says Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D).

Uh, not quite — because the employees wouldn’t face any risk. With a majority of votes on the new board, union reps could hike benefits and slice the amount members must chip in. And if that plunges the fund further underwater, Jersey’s taxpayers would be the ones on the hook.

The “employees who will benefit” would have no responsibility whatsoever — except to cash their pension checks.

When other unions have gained such power on public pension boards, notes Manhattan Institute pension expert Steve Malanga, it has led to “catastrophic outcomes.” He cites the records of the city of Dallas, for example, and the state of Texas.

In Detroit, worker and retiree reps on the government fund kept upping benefits, despite the city’s worsening finances. The resulting massive debt was a huge factor in driving the city into bankruptcy.

Indeed, it’s mad schemes like this that got the Garden State in trouble in the first place. For decades, lawmakers and governors made too many promises to public-sector unions — without putting aside any money to pay for it all. In 2015, Jersey’s pension officially became the worst-funded in America.

Christie has funneled nearly $5 billion to the pension funds, more than the previous five governors combined. Yet that’s barely made a dent in the $135 billion (and growing) hole.

And now state lawmakers want to pound the shovels even faster?

Their bill should certainly be a no-brainer for Christie to veto — but New Jerseyans, beware: Your next governor may be happy to go along with this madness.