Andrew Kitchenman`s is the Statehouse correspondent for NJBIZ, which he joined in May 2009. He previously worked as a reporter at The Times of Trenton and the Journal Inquirer of Manchester, Conn., and as an editor for Sun Newspapers (now Sun-Gazette) in Northern Virginia. He has a master`s degree in journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor`s degree from St. Mary`s College of Maryland. He grew up in Willingboro and in Bucks County, Pa. 
The state could privatize public-sector jobs based on recommendations from a task force led by former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer and appointed by Gov. Chris Christie today.
Christie said he is forming the task force to increase government efficiency and effectiveness, save costs and determine what services should be provided on the public payroll.
“Candidly, I would be doing this even if the situation wasn’t as dire as it was,” Christie said, referring to the state’s budget crisis.
Christie invited business owners and other groups to contact Zimmer with their best ideas about services that should be privatized.
“I wouldn’t expect them to have all of the answers any more than I have all of the answers,” Christie said.
The task force’s recommendations are due on May 31. The state is barred from laying off any public employees until Jan. 1, 2011 under an agreement signed by former Gov. Jon S. Corzine that also deferred the 2010 salary increase until this year.
He said state union leaders have shown no willingness to give ground on anything, but their members understand that the state is in a crisis.
Christie noted that while the state lost 9,100 jobs in the most recent employment report, municipalities and schools added 11,000, adding that “the appetite for increased taxes by our constituents has run out.” He also said that there shouldn’t be two classes of residents: those who deal with uncertainty and those who have protected salary increases and benefits.
While the governor didn’t disclose any details of his budget message, to be delivered to a joint session of the Legislature on Tuesday, he did say that the business community would be asked to share the sacrifices along with all other groups.
Zimmer, a Delaware Township resident and president of policy consulting firm Zimmer Strategies Inc., said other states are far ahead of New Jersey in privatization.
“I want to hear from everyone who has a suggestion,” Zimmer said.
Christie said his administration would not have the ethical questions that occurred during earlier privatization efforts, saying that it would learn from previous mistakes.
The five member task force also includes Kathleen A. Davis, executive vice president of the Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey; John Galandak, president of the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey; P. Kelly Hatfield, a research scientist and former Summit council president; and Todd Caliguire,co-president of ANW/Crestwood Inc. of Lincoln Park.
Christie did not name any areas that the task force would explore and specifically declined to say whether one of those areas would be prisons, the focus of controversial privatization efforts in other states.
New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Vice President Michael Egenton said the task force is a great idea and that the chamber is looking to have its members engaged with the group.
New Jersey Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel said the group is concerned that privatization will weaken environmental protection by handing permitting functions over to businesses with industry ties.
E-mail to akitchenman@njbiz.com.
