Rumors about Dow's imminent departure have circulated for months, and she has expressed interest in becoming a judge
Sources say State Attorney General Paula Dow, pictured in this file photo, plans to step down from her post.TRENTON — State Attorney General Paula Dow, one of the most powerful figures in New Jersey government, is expected step down by the end of the year, according to two people with knowledge of her plans.
Rumors about Dow's imminent departure have circulated for months, and she has expressed interest in becoming a judge. The sources declined to be identified before a public announcement, which has not been scheduled.
Dow herself has shared her intention to leave her post.
At the wake for a slain Newark police officer on Thursday, state Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Essex) asked Dow whether she was stepping down.
"She said yeah," Rice said.
Speculation has focused on Jeff Chiesa, Gov. Chris Christie's chief counsel who was a colleague of his in the U.S. Attorney's office, as a possible replacement, sources said.
The attorney general serves as the state’s top law enforcement officer, leading a sprawling enterprise that oversees every county prosecutor's office, gaming enforcement and the State Police. It’s a demanding position, and Dow’s predecessors have typically served for only a few years before leaving.
Christie has not indicated whether he will nominate Dow for a judgeship, and spokesmen for Dow and Gov. Chris Christie declined to comment.
Last month, Dow, the first African-American woman to serve as state attorney general, told a group of schoolchildren in Trenton that she has "an interest in being a judge sometime" and that others in her position have looked for jobs on the bench as a next step.
"All I do know is this is not my last job and I get restless so I have to work," Dow said. "I couldn’t sit home. It would just drive me crazy."
Currently, there are 11 vacancies on the Superior Court in Essex County, where she lives.
Dow, a single mother of two boys, started her legal career as an in-house lawyer at Exxon. After that she served as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan and Newark, where she worked with Christie, who at the time was the U.S. attorney for New Jersey.
"I’m not sure I was a supporter when he first came in," Dow said in 2009. "But I was a supporter by the time I left."
She then spent six years as the Essex County prosecutor, overseeing the busiest prosecutor’s office in the state.
Christie, a Republican, announced he was nominating Dow, a registered Democrat, as his state attorney general in December 2009. She was the first cabinet officer he named after his election.
"She always told me the truth whether she thought that was the truth I wanted to hear -- or not," Christie said at the time.
There has been very little turnover in Christie’s administration since his election in November 2009. On Thursday he nominated Lee Solomon, president of the Board of Public Utilities, to be a judge in Camden County, and named Robert Hanna, one of Dow’s top deputies, to take his place.
By Christopher Baxter and Chris Megerian /Statehouse Bureau Staff