January 26, 2012
Christie Nominates Harris and Kwon to Supreme Court
Governor Chris Christie has nominated Bruce A. Harris, Mayor of Chatham, and Phillip H. Kwon, First Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Law and Public Safety, to the New Jersey State Supreme Court.
Bruce Harris is a lawyer with over 20 years of legal experience, most recently working at the law firm of Greenberg Traurig and previously at Riker, Danzi, Scherer, Hyland and Perretti. His work has focused primarily on issues of public finance and commercial lending. Harris currently serves as Mayor of Chatham Borough and previously served as a member of the Chatham Borough Council. He has served on the Chatham Environmental Commission, the Chatham Historic Preservation Commission, and on the boards of the UMDNJ Foundation and the New Jersey Health Foundation. Harris graduated magna cum lade from Amherst College and graduated with honors from Boston University Graduate School of Management and Yale Law School.
Phillip Kwon currently serves as First Assistant Attorney General where he has been the principal legal and strategic adviser to the Attorney General. Previously, he served as part of the United States Attorney's Office as the Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division, the Chief of the Violent Crimes Unit and the Assistant US Attorney of both the Special Prosecutions Division and the Criminal Division. In that capacity, he was the lead prosecutor on a diverse range of federal crimes and public corruption matters, in addition to taking on cases against some of New Jersey's most notorious and violent groups, such as the Bloods, Crips, and Latin Kings. Kwon graduated from Georgetown University and from Rutgers Law School where he was an editor of the Law Review.
If confirmed by the Senate, Harris will become the third African-American to serve on the State Supreme Court and the first openly gay member of the Court and Kwon will become the first Asian-American to serve on the Supreme Court and the first immigrant to serve since the 1947 Constitution created the Court.
Simon and DeCroce Selected to Fill Vacancies
Republicans from the 16th Legislative District have selected Donna Simon to replace the late Assemblyman Peter Biondi and Republicans in the 26th Legislative District have selected Betty Lou DeCroce to replace the late Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce.
Simon, a Readington Township committeewoman, was selected by Republican county committee members from the district's towns in Somerset, Hunterdon, Middlesex and Mercer Counties. She will have to run again in a June primary and a November special election to fill out the remainder of the term.
DeCroce, the widow of former minority leader Alex DeCroce, will resign her post at the state Department of Community Affairs upon assuming the Assembly seat. She is a former Municipal Clerk in Roxbury Township and Commissioner and Chairwoman of the Morris County Joint Insurance Fund. She will also have to run again in a June primary and a November special election to fill out the remainder of the term.
UMDNJ Advisory Committee Issues Final Recommendations
The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) Advisory Committee, created through Executive Order No. 51, issued its final recommendations on Wednesday. Governor Christie accepted and endorsed the recommendations calling them "a blueprint to achieve long-overdue reform of the State's higher education system that will usher in a new era for medical education throughout the State."
The Committee made the following recommendations:
* A revamped and recast health sciences university based in Newark, which they suggest be named the New Jersey Health Sciences University (NJHSU). This academic institution, with significantly increased autonomy for three units - University Behavioral Health Care, the School of Osteopathic Medicine and the Public Health Research Institute - will establish the foundation for a new era of medical education and patient care in our State.
* An affirmative and strong endorsement of support for the critical mission and role of University Hospital for the Newark community and for the State. The Committee recognized the hospital's vital role while also noting that its precarious fiscal position must be addressed. To that end they are recommending a public-private partnership for the hospital's management to allow for its continued role as a Level One Trauma Center that would provide for the improved operations and long-term sustainability of University Hospital.
* A broader, expanded research university in southern New Jersey comprised of the assets of Rowan University and Rutgers University in Camden and encompassing as well the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University.
* Reaffirms the Committee's interim recommendation for institutional realignment of UMDNJ's Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, the School of Public Health and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey into Rutgers University.
The UMDNJ Advisory Committee was chaired by Dr. Sol J. Barer, former CEO and Chairman of Celgene, and members include Robert E. Campbell, former Vice Chairman of Johnson & Johnson; Joyce Wilson Harley, Esq., Executive Director of Administrative Services at Essex County College and former Essex County Administrator; Anthony J. Perno III, Esq., President & CEO of Cooper's Ferry Development Association, Inc., and Harold T. Shapiro, Ph.D., former President of Princeton University. At the direction of the Governor, Acting Secretary of Higher Education Rochelle Hendricks joined the Committee in a consultative role.
Legislative Calendar
This week Senate Group 3 and 4 Committees met. Next week Senate Group 1 and 2 Committees and Assembly Group A and B Committees will meet on January 30 and Assembly Group C and D Committees will meet on February 2.