Prosecutors dominate Christie's cabinet

Gov. Christie promised to turn Trenton upside-down, and the team he has picked to topple the gold dome includes ex-prosecutors, New Yorkers, Republicans, Democrats, and a few holdovers from the Corzine administration.

Only one cabinet member, former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler, is a political star. Two are from South Jersey communities. And one seat, that of the public advocate, remains vacant and is likely to be eliminated.

He chose former State Sen. Richard Bagger, a Republican from Westfield, to be chief of staff, a position that involves political and administrative skills. And two aides from his campaign have jobs in the governor's office.

Outside the governor's office, few top seats are filled by those with ties to the state's political machines, and no comeback kids from the administrations of former Republican Govs. Thomas H. Kean and Christie Whitman. But there are clearly some political ties to the picks.

Schundler, a conservative maverick, was nominated to be education commissioner. He endorsed Christie in the Republican primary, giving Christie credibility with the right wing of his party as he ran against an even more conservative Republican, Steve Lonegan. And, for the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Christie nominated Sussex County Freeholder Hal Wirths, one of the highest-ranking elected officials in his conservative county to support Christie in the primary.

Seven cabinet nominees, including the lieutenant governor, contributed money to the Christie campaign. One, Human Services Commissioner Jennifer Velez of Summit, contributed to former Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine's campaign. She is one of four nominees who worked under Corzine.

The Christie cabinet is working its way through the Senate Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearings, which could wrap up in mid-March, said the committee's chairman, State Sen. Nick Scutari (D., Union). The committee cleared former Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow, a Democrat and former assistant U.S. attorney from Maplewood, for attorney general and Maj. Gen. Glenn Rieth of Ewing, a holdover from the Corzine administration, for adjutant general.

If Scutari has picked up on a pattern as he has examined the nominees' credentials, it is that many come from the same world Christie does - law enforcement.

Christie, the former U.S. attorney for New Jersey, has nominated five former prosecutors to head cabinet departments and appointed four more to key positions on his staff. He placed several others in leading roles in the Attorney General's Office and other agencies.

"The people you tend to go with are people whose judgment you know and trust," said lobbyist Michael Murphy, a former Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Morris County prosecutor.

Hiring so many prosecutors is a sign that Christie's administration will play by a different set of rules than did past administrations.

Because they spent so much time in law enforcement, Montclair State University political scientist Brigid Harrison said, "how they think about challenges and the kinds of solutions that they are likely to come up with come from the same page. What we may well see is what Christie has done so far in using the letter of the law as a means by which policy is implemented."

Since the beginning of this month, he has used his veto pen in some high-profile cases.

Christie vetoed the budget of the Delaware River and Bay Authority, which runs the Cape May-Lewes Ferry and Delaware Memorial Bridge, noting it had passed a budget that was 3 percent higher than last year's with little explanation.

He vetoed a change order for the new Burlington City High School, saying the project was already 66 percent over its original budget of $28.7 million.

Though he has no legal power over the Passaic Valley Sewerage Authority, a North Jersey patronage mill, he publicly criticized it for having 96 workers who make more than $100,000 a year and an executive director who makes $313,000.

The head of his authorities unit is a former assistant U.S. attorney, as is the head of the School Development Authority. Christie has said he will cut spending in both areas.

Harrison said the vetoes might foreshadow how the governor would exercise "his authority given the confines of the law" when he dealt with employee contract negotiations, the enforcement and changing of state regulations, and other governments.

And interestingly, Harrison noted, Christie put an ex-prosecutor in the Department of Community Affairs, a job most recently held by politically connected mayors and legislators. Among other functions, that department approves municipal budgets and doles out state aid to local governments, something Christie has repeatedly said will be cut.

"He said he wanted to turn Trenton upside-down," said Pete McDonough, a lobbyist who was Whitman's press secretary, "and part of this selection says to me he's putting that goal ahead of the goal of get-along politics of the past."

With other departments, Christie has looked for people with histories in their areas.

For Department of Children and Family Services commissioner, Christie reached into the child-advocacy community and chose Janet Rosenzweig of Yardley, who led Prevent Child Abuse NJ as well as the Mercer County Department of Human Services.

One of his three New Yorkers, Raymond Martinez of Staten Island, led the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles and served in the U.S. State Department, working on protocol matters. He was tapped to head the Motor Vehicles Commission.

Another New Yorker, Andrew Eristoff, a former New York councilman, New York state tax commissioner, and aide to Christie supporter and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, was nominated to be the state treasurer.

He nominated Poonam Alaigh of Warren to head the Health Department. An expert on vascular diseases and a past president of the American Heart Association, Alaigh is executive director of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey and has worked for GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C.

She teaches at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and has a clinical practice.

For the Board of Public Utilities, the governor chose Lee Solomon of Haddonfield, a former prosecutor.

Christie picked business consultant Bob Martin of Hopewell to head the Department of Environmental Protection, drawing a note of caution from the Sierra Club, whose state director, Jeff Tittel, said he wanted to see where Martin stood on issues like preventing sprawl, cleaning up toxic dumps, and fixing parks.

The governor kept Douglas Fisher, a former Democratic legislator from Bridgeton, as head of the Department of Agriculture.

That is a cabinet position the governor has little to say about. The Board of Agriculture picks the nominee, and the governor confirms the selection.

To save money and give the state's first lieutenant governor something to do besides the limited statutory obligation to act as governor when Christie cannot, he nominated Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno to head the Department of State.

On the campaign trial, Guadagno, a former assistant U.S. attorney from Monmouth Beach, wondered aloud about what Trenton would think when it saw all those prosecutors show up in January to run the government.

She's about to find out.

Secretary of state: Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno

Treasurer: Andrew Eristoff

Human services: Jennifer Velez

Banking and insurance: Tom Considine

Attorney general: Paula Dow

Homeland security: Charles McKenna

Community affairs: Lori Grifa

Labor: Hal Wirths

Health: Poonam Alaigh

Corrections: Gary Lanigan

Transportation: Jim Simpson

Environmental protection: Bob Martin

Agriculture: Douglas Fisher

Education: Bret Schundler

Board of Public Utilities: Lee Solomon

Civil Service Commission: Robert Czech

New Jersey National Guard: Maj. Gen. Glenn Rieth

State Police: Col. Rick Fuentes

Children and family services: Janet Rosenzweig

Motor Vehicle Commission: Raymond Martinez

Schools Development Authority: Marc Larkins

NJ Transit: James Weinstein

SOURCE: Associated PressEndText