Stuart Rabner

Gov. Jon Corzine, former Gov. Brendan T. Byrne, Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, and Senate President Richard Codey: Politicker photo

NEWARK - On a ridiculously hot day in which many other public speakers might have sent the brow-mopping audience on a premature beeline for the nearest watering hole, former Gov. Brendan T. Byrne regaled his willing audience with charm and one-liners.

"Everything else I asked for, but I didn’t ask for this," said Byrne, before officially accepting the honor bestowed by the Essex County Freeholders and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, and before he pulled the American flag off a stone fixture in a plaza named after him.

"When my kids used to visit me here, I used to put them in jail, and that taught them to stay on the straight and narrow," he cracked.

If Michellene Davis becomes Governor Jon Corzine's next Chief of Staff, it won't bode well for Edward McBride, who has served as Corzine's Chief Counsel since Ken Zimmerman left earlier this year.  A Davis appointment would mean that Corzine effectively passed over McBride for a promotion and picked someone who is several runs below the Counsel on the organization chart.  Other Chief Counsels, like Stuart Rabner, Mike Torpey, Cary Edwards and Edward McGlynn, have been promoted up. 

Gov. Jon Corzine is optimistic about New Jersey's futureSeated at a back table in an Ironbound restaurant on Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Jon Corzine listened as he heard the leadership of his party described as a three-headed hydra; an image used by Republicans on the campaign trail to characterize Senate President Richard Codey, Speaker Joseph Roberts - and Corzine.

The governor thinks it's ridiculous.

"We have a Constitution that separates power for a reason," said Corzine: to prevent one branch of government from usurping the authority that individuals have in each branch.

The appointment of former Attorney General Stuart Rabner to the office of state Supreme Court Justice is one of his proudest accomplishments as governor, given the quality and preparedness of the man, Corzine said. However, the judiciary is not the troubled branch of government by the reckoning of Corzine's fiercest critics - maybe philosophically with decisions such as Abbott - but at least not immediately.

Anne Milgram has been a strong political ally of Governor Jon Corzine, serving as his Counsel when Corzine was in the United States Senate, and then as his First Assistant Attorney General.  Picking her as his third Attorney General in less than two years became an easy decision for Corzine.  But now, after less than five months on the job, sources close to Corzine say Milgram is “off the reservation.”  The front office does not have the same relationship it enjoyed with Zulima Farber and Stuart Rabner, and Corzine has been taking considerable heat from Democratic insiders over a subpoena served just before Election Day on the Union County Improvement Authority, where Union County Democratic Chair Charlotte DeFilippo is the Executive Director.

The Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court is using Governor Jon Corzine's playbook. "One case of a judge who is dismissing his or her own ticket, even if there is a problem with that ticket, is a case too many. We'll have zero tolerance for this," said Stuart Rabner, who was named to head the state's top court this year.

Does this mean Rabner will now suggest that he be held accountable for the judiciary?

So far, four out of ten Jersey City Municipal Court Judges have departed as part of a growing ticket fixing scandal.  Judge Victor Sisone took a leave of absence yesterday, joining Chief Judge Wanda Molina and two others.

While the Mayor of Jersey City appoints local Judges, with the advise and consent of the City Council, Municipal Court Judges are supervised by the Superior Court Assignment Judge.  It might be interesting to see if Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, the state Judiciary Boss, will hold the Assignnment Judge, Maurice Gallipoli, accountable for a scandal that happened on his watch.

New Jersey Public Officers Salary Review Commission was created in 2000 as a creative way of giving state legislators some cover when it came to granting pay hikes for the Governor, cabinet officials, judges and prosecutors. That way legislators wouldn't be held accountable to the voters -- or the Judges and Prosecutors -- because they could claim they were just following the guidance of the blue ribbon commission. Richard Codey sponsord the legislation in the Senate; Leonard Lance in the Assembly.

Yesterday, Governor Jon "Zero Tolerance" Corzine announced his two appointments: former state Supreme Court Justice James Coleman and lobbyist Hazel Gluck. This puts Gluck in the position of suggesting pay hikes for people she lobbies -- perhaps giving the appearance that this violates the intent of the Codey/Lance bill, which says no one should be appointed who "are in positions that would be affected by the commission's recommendations." The same thing could be said about Codey's appointment, Michael Critchley, a criminal defense attorney from Essex County who often represents allegedly corrupt public officials in court.

The Star-Ledger is reporting that Governor Jon Corzine's choice to be the first State Comptroller is Matthew "Ari" Boxer, a 36-year-old independent and protege of Chief Justice Stuart Rabner.  A former Assistant U.S. Attorney, Boxer as served as Director of the Authorities Unit in the Office of the Governor's Counsel.

Among the final acts of Stuart Rabner’s tenure as Attorney General of New Jersey: the Department of Law and Public Safety this week pulled press credentials for BlueJersey.com Statehouse correspondent Jay Lassiter.