Sometimes it pays to be riffed

Letter writers keep telling us that when it comes to what goes on in New Jersey, "You just can't make this stuff up.'' They're right. The latest example: The Gloucester County freeholder whose $90,000 job as assistant to the executive director of the South Jersey Port Corporation was eliminated in April is still collecting paychecks and benefits and is still driving a state car. And nobody on the corporation board can figure out why.

Well, that's life with the politically connected. In addition to serving as freeholder, William Krebs is a friend of state Sen. Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, who arranged for Krebs to get the job when he needed one. Board members found he didn't have enough work to do, so they cut his position. But they didn't follow through in cutting the money or the perks.

How do people like Krebs look others in the eye, knowing they're getting paid for doing nothing? Doesn't it bother him as a freeholder, supposedly watching the public purse, that such an arrangement is happening at the port? But he's a politician, which means he's probably blind to the most elementary ethical concerns. Then again, why did the port board think the director needed an assistant in the first place, especially at $90,000 a year?