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The New York
Times
Nomination Feud
Redraws Battle Lines
in Trenton
POLITICAL MEMO by
RICHARD G. JONES, nytimes.com on the Web. June 16, 2007
TRENTON, June 15 — Even
considering the odd manner in which politics are played in New Jersey, where
feuding party colleagues shut down state government and Senate candidates avoid
unpopular vice presidents, this week’s dispute over Gov. Jon S. Corzine’s
nominee for chief justice of the State Supreme Court was especially curious.
The nominee, State Attorney General Stuart J. Rabner, is a highly regarded
former federal prosecutor whose selection by Governor Corzine had been well
received by Democrats and Republicans alike.
That is until State Senator Nia H. Gill, a Democrat from Essex County who has
skirmished with her own party, told legislative colleagues that she planned to
delay the confirmation hearings for Mr. Rabner using an arcane tradition called
“senatorial courtesy,” which allows senators to block the nomination of any
resident from their home county. Mr. Rabner lives in Caldwell.
What followed was an unusual chain of events in which Ms. Gill aggressively
declined to explain her objections to the nomination — or even confirm that she
had them. At one particularly bizarre moment on Thursday, she threatened
to have the police remove reporters from the State House chamber where she led
the Senate’s Commerce Committee.
While no one doubts that Mr. Rabner will be confirmed by the full Senate — a
hearing set for Monday has now been postponed to Thursday — Senator Gill’s
dug-in heels betray a general unease with Mr. Corzine.
The governor, a Master of the Universe by way of Goldman Sachs who, despite his
Midwestern roots and avuncular sweater vests, is regarded by many lawmakers as
an aloof chief executive who wants the Legislature simply to rubber-stamp his
proposals.
“Under this governor, things are done without any discussion,” Senator Ronald L.
Rice, another Democrat from Essex County, said Wednesday. Until Mr.
Corzine invited him to the governor’s mansion on Thursday, he also said he
intended to block Mr. Rabner’s nomination.
But after meeting with Mr. Corzine, Mr. Rice withdrew his opposition.
And Ms. Gill left it to others to say what she really seemed to mean. Mr.
Rice, who, like Senator Gill, is African-American, said they were concerned that
not enough consideration was being given to minority candidates for the bench.
Other legislators spoke of a sense of detachment by the governor in dealing with
them.
And in an unusual and oddly partisan attack, the United States attorney for New
Jersey, Christopher J. Christie, who was Mr. Rabner’s boss for a number of
years, sharply criticized legislators and Mr. Corzine for not adequately
defending Mr. Rabner.
All of these forces have conspired to disrupt what Mr. Corzine hoped would be a
routine confirmation.
When speaking off the record, many lawmakers leave little doubt that they think
Mr. Corzine tries to control the legislative process too much — from
confirmation hearings to budget passage.
“It seems that the front office, in nominating Stuart Rabner, did not reach out
as thoroughly as they should have in order to make this the home run that the
governor hoped for,” said David P. Rebovich, director of the Institute for New
Jersey Politics at Rider University.
While Ms. Gill has not said why she objects to the nomination of a man who
nearly everyone else believes would make an able chief justice, one Democratic
lawmaker who spoke only on the condition of anonymity said that Ms. Gill was
concerned because Mr. Rabner, who is 46, has never served as a judge.
The lawmaker said that Senator Gill was also bothered because she felt that more
minority candidates should have been considered for the seat.
“That’s a valid concern,” the lawmaker said. “But I don’t know if this is
the way to raise that concern.”
For his part, Mr. Corzine has defended the process used to select Mr. Rabner.
A spokesman for the governor said that eight state departments were led by
minorities. The spokesman, Anthony Coley, also rejected the assertion that
Mr. Corzine had not advocated vigorously enough for Mr. Rabner’s nomination.
That apparently has not satisfied Mr. Christie, who, in a speech on Wednesday at
a golf club in West Windsor, criticized the handling of Mr. Rabner’s nomination.
“It’s absolutely appalling, and I am angry, and you should be angry too,” Mr.
Christie said to members of the 200 Club, according to an account in The
Star-Ledger. “You should have had it up to your ears with the petty
politics of Trenton, with the failure of the people that we elect to represent
us.”
Mr. Coley deflected Mr. Christie’s comments. “No one feels more strongly
that Attorney General Rabner should be chief justice than Jon Corzine,” he said.
“No one is working harder or is more passionate about him being chief justice
than Jon Corzine.”
Mr. Corzine, the first person in a half-century to hold New Jersey’s
governorship without previous experience in a state or local office, has
frequently had to fend off criticism that he does not reach out to lawmakers as
often as he should.
Senator Rice compared Mr. Corzine’s approach with that of his predecessors.
“Governor Florio would call around, he listened to us — even if we didn’t always
get what we wanted,” Mr. Rice said. “He” — Mr. Corzine — “doesn’t call
us.”
Shortly after making these comments, Mr. Rice was invited to Drumthwacket, the
governor’s mansion in Princeton.
Regardless of the merits of Mr. Corzine’s approach compared with those of other
governors, Mr. Rebovich said that if nothing else, the events of the past week
were an example of how much further Mr. Corzine has to go to fit in under the
State House dome.
“It’s still a learning curve that’s pretty steep,” he said.
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