Gov. Christopher Christie confirmed a month-long rumor Dec. 12 that township resident Paula Dow will be leaving her post as state attorney Jan. 1 for a prospective judgeship in State Superior Court-Newark.
Christie, however, is first transferring the former Essex County Prosecutor to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Dow, said Christie in a Dec. 12 Trenton press conference, will be the PA's First Deputy General Counsel for at least the early part of 2012.
Dow, the county's top cop for six years, was Christie's first appointee. The two had collaborated on several cases while Christie was U.S. Attorney, New Jersey District-Newark 2001-09.
Dow came from an in-house partnership at Mobil-Exxon and federal offices in Newark and New York City to take charge of the state's busiest prosecutor's office in 2003. She became New Jersey's first African-American woman as state attorney general Jan. 1, 2010.
"She always told me the truth," said Christie of Dow, "whether she thought that was the truth I wanted to hear or not."
The move, at first brush, would replace Christopher M. Hartwyk, of South Orange, with Dow at the PA Jan. 1. Christie will meanwhile succeed Dow as AG with his chief counsel, Jeff Chiesa, formerly of the West Orange Wolff & Samson law firm.
"I take the problems at the Port Authority seriously enough that I've asked my attorney general to go over there and look what's going on," said Christie (R-Mendham), "and the legal operations over there to make sure some of the problems, inconsistencies and misses we've had won't happen again."
Dow, as PA deputy counsel, would be reviewing the bi-state agency's budget, vending and personnel practices. She would be working with auditors from KPMG LLC, of New York, who is conducting an independent investigation of the PA's books as per Christie and New York colleague Andrew Cuomo's requests last month.
The PA, at its Dec. 8 board meeting, has replaced 30-year auditor Deloitte LLC with KMPG to comply with Christie and Cuomo. Both governors have approved the board of directors' Nov. 1 appointment of New Yorker Patrick Foye for the retiring Chris Ward as its executive director.
The PA board also approved its $7 billion 2012 budget Dec. 8 while pledging to post its employee salaries and overtime online. The spending plan, largely drawn from recent and planned bridge and tunnel tolls and PATH fares, is $700 million less than its current 2011 outlay.
Half of the budget's $3.6 billion capital is going to finish the new World Trade Center complex, including the 1,776-foot-tall WTC One tower and PATH station. The AAA, arguing that river crossing tolls and PATH fares should not pay for real estate projects, has filed a civil suit over the hikes.
Although both governors have cut the PA's increases by half, Christie has criticized Ward's holding the hikes and public hearings earlier this year.
Dow's work on her temporary job may meanwhile give enough time for Christie to break a logjam of judicial and administrative appointments with the State House's Democratic Party leadership.
Christie and the Democratic leaders - including Sens. Ronald L Rice (D-Newark) and Richard J. Codey (D-Roseland) have been at an impasse on some appointment for over a year. Rice, for example, applied "senatorial courtesy" in not scheduling an appointment hearing for Christopher Cerf, of Montclair. Cerf has been the Acting Education Commissioner since.
Dow's projected appointment to the superior court bench may either fill one of 11 vacancies in Newark. Assignment Judge Patricia Costello said, on Dec. 7, that the vacancies are among the 44 judges' seats in New Jersey's busiest court. Costello herself has heard several civil trails herself.
Costello added that six judges on loan from other state superior courts are to go back to their home benches Feb. 1. She has issued a Dec. 7 directive not to proceed with any new civil cases, including divorce proceedings. New criminal cases will proceed.
Chiesa, who was executive director of Christie's 2009-10 transition team, had also previously worked with the Governor in the U.S. Attorney's Office New Jersey District. Some Newark residents may remember him for prosecuting that city's former head of its sanitation division.
A PA spokesman told "The Wall Street Journal" Dec. 12 that Hartwyk is leaving to "pursue other opportunities." The one half of the Hartwyk & Slowinski Newark law firm has served as South Orange Village Trustee 1993-99 and its counsel 1999-2003 plus on the Orange Memorial Hospital Community Advisory Board 1994-2004.
Subscribe to this comment's feed
