TRENTON — Dozens of Gov. Chris Christie’s nominations for posts with state commissions, agencies and judgeships are set to expire if the state Senate does not clear them by Tuesday. State Sen. Josesph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth), who has been complaining about the backlog of nominees for months, said he’s outraged by the Senate’s inaction. “The job of the Senate is...
Anne Murray Patterson speaks after Governor Chris Christie announces her nomination to become an associate justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court at the Statehouse in Trenton in May 2010. The Senate has refused to consider the nomination of Patterson.TRENTON — Dozens of Gov. Chris Christie’s nominations for posts with state commissions, agencies and judgeships are set to expire if the state Senate does not clear them by Tuesday.
State Sen. Josesph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth), who has been complaining about the backlog of nominees for months, said he’s outraged by the Senate’s inaction.
“The job of the Senate is advise and consent by nomination,” he said. “Anything that’s not done by this week expires.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee today is hearing 33 nominations for various posts, including to the Turnpike Authority, the state Board of Education, the state lottery and trustee posts for public universities.
But even those have not gone smoothly, as Democrats harshly questioned Ron Gravino, an accountant who is nominated for the Turnpike Authority, over his role as treasurer for a nonprofit organization that pushed Christie’s legislative agenda. Democrats still have not said whether they’ll vote on his nomination today.
But dozens more have not been heard, including former Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Ferguson, who is expected to be named chairman of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority if the nomination ever clears the Senate. Former Attorney General David Samson’s nomination as Port Authority chairman has also not advanced.
Christie would also have to re-nominated Anne Murray Patterson to the state Supreme Court. Patterson’s nomination has been held by Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), who is angry that Christie passed over former Justice John Wallace Jr. for renomination.
Nominees already sitting on commissions will keep their posts while their re-nominations are pending. But new nominees would have to begin the process again.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) said, after today’s , there are 27 “ready nominees” his committee did not hear, meaning those who have fulfilled their requirements to be heard by the committee, such as filling out questionnaires or, in some cases, passing background checks.
But Scutari said Christie has not filed several nominations himself, including at least nine administrative law judges and “a couple” Superior Court judges.
“It’s a two-way street, obstruction,” he said. “We’d like to see the Judiciary retain its independence.”