On Monday, the state Senate’s Judiciary Committee will meet and conduct its part of a time-honored tradition: the last-minute slew of nominations from an outgoing governor.
Governors-elect, hoping to keep open as many options as possible, resent the notion that an outgoing governor could appoint loyalists to yearslong terms without input — the same is surely true for Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill. Since voters elected his successor last month, Murphy has sent scores of nominations to the Senate for approval, including for many commissioner roles and judgeships with terms that last as long as seven years.
The nominations include high-level positions like the Board of Public Utilities, as well as lower-stakes shoo-ins like county taxation boards. The 200-name list of Murphy nominations since four weeks ago includes loyalists from his senior staff and longtime officeholders who are all but guaranteed confirmation for another term. It’s not clear which nominees will glide to confirmation, which might be held up by Senate President Nick Scutari, and which might be held up by senators exercising senatorial courtesy, the longstanding practice that allows senators to block nominees from their home district.
The last-ditch nomination efforts are not unique to Murphy. Former Gov. Chris Christie did the same in 2017, pushing through more than 80 nominees with the help of former Senate President Steve Sweeney, an aisle-crossing maneuver that helped fuel the tension between South Jersey Democrats and Murphy in the early years of his administration. Former Gov. Jon Corzine tried the same in 2010 before handing the reins to Christie, but ultimately reached a deal to pass a slew of judicial nominations while keeping high-level board positions open for Christie.
Now, it’s Murphy’s turn to try for a last imprint on the state’s bureaucracy, and the Senate Judiciary Committee will continue that process Monday, when it considers 91 of his advise-and-consent nominations.
Some nominees have languished for months or even years. Mary Bennett, a state Board of Education member whom Murphy nominated for another term in November 2024, will be among those considered Monday. Others, like acting Comptroller Kevin Walsh, aren’t so lucky. Walsh was initially nominated for the role in 2020, but hasn’t received a vote before the Senate. Many such nominees, including Walsh, will not receive a confirmation vote before the end of Murphy’s term due to senatorial courtesy or a lack of Senate support.
Murphy’s recent nominees include a pair of Board of Public Utilities nominees, Joseph Coviello and Emma Rebhorn, who would serve six-year terms if confirmed. Coviello is director of public affairs at the Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority, and Rebhorn is an attorney with ties to labor.
The BPU, a five-member board, regulates the state’s utility companies, giving the board much influence on energy policy in the state. It’s experienced gridlocks of late, however, because two vacancies mean the BPU’s two Democrats and one Republican must vote unanimously to move items forward.
With increasing energy prices an inescapable issue this year, Sherrill’s top campaign promise was to freeze utility rates in the state for a year. Sherrill has not detailed exactly how she will carry out that promise — and many have said it could be legally tricky — so it’s unclear whether her plan could go before the BPU. Given the complexities of energy policy, however, the governor-elect would undoubtedly appreciate a guaranteed ally on the BPU.
Murphy has nominated 31 people to Superior Court judgeships since October, and another 12 are pending from before October. A dozen of those nominations are for judges who have already served their initial seven-year term and must now be approved again for tenure. Judges are forced to retire at age 70, though many are brought back on an interim basis to help make up for a heavy caseload and dozens of vacancies.
Thirty-one are nominated to fill vacancies; in the 460-plus member Superior Court, 44 vacancies remain outstanding, a vacancy rate of almost 10%.
The Murphy administration had struggled to keep up with vacancies since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. There were, at one point, 70 vacancies, forcing some vicinages to limit trials in 2023. That number was whittled down, however, as Murphy and Senate leaders reached deals to approve a few dozen judges.
The nominations address seven vacancies in Essex County, six in Mercer County, and four in Middlesex County. If all pending 31 are confirmed, there would be 13 Superior Court vacancies left, though some candidates have languished for more than a year; Morganville attorney Kerry C. Soranno, for example, was nominated in October 2024 and hasn’t moved forward since.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has cleared nine of the nominations — mostly from the list of judges who need reconfirmation — and now they simply need approval from the Senate writ large.
The governor is also looking to put his last touches on the state’s port authorities. He renominated Kevin J. O’Toole, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s chairman, to another six-year term. Former Gov. Chris Christie first nominated O’Toole in 2017, and his tenure will stretch into a second Democratic governorship. The Senate Judiciary Committee cleared O’Toole’s renomination earlier this month.
Murphy also renominated Commissioner Joseph Kelley and nominated Fanny Cedeno, a two-term Hudson County commissioner and a political ally of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Brian P. Stack.
For the South Jersey Port Corporation, which operates the ports along the Delaware River, Murphy nominated Dominick Burzichelli, the longtime CFO of the Rowan College of South Jersey and the brother of state Sen. John Burzichelli (D-Paulsboro).
The governor tapped two governor’s office staff members to Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, which licenses health insurance to more than 3 million people in the Garden State. Stephanie Lagos, chief of staff for First Lady Tammy Murphy, would succeed Joe Roberts Jr., a former Assembly speaker. Mahen Gunaratna, Murphy’s communications director, would replace Ralph Caputo, a now 85-year-old former Assemblyman who retired in 2023 to take the part-time commissioner role.
The nominations also include a handful of law enforcement and military roles. The governor tapped Linda Estremera to succeed Yolanda Ciccone, a former Somerset County judge, as the Middlesex County prosecutor. County leaders hold major sway over picks for prosecutor, so it’s likely that Estremera, the current first assistant prosecutor, would have been nominated under Sherrill anyway.
Murphy tapped William A. Daniel for another term as the Union County prosecutor and picked Derek Routt to serve as brigadier general of the Air National Guard, a role that’s currently vacant.
He also nominated ten judges to the Administrative Law office, an executive branch agency that handles cases for state agencies. The nominations include a full term for Barry E. Moscowitz as director of the Office of the Administrative Law and chief administrative law judge; Moscowitz has held that role in an acting capacity since 2022.
The governor tapped several new members to Newark’s University Hospital Board of Directors. Murphy picked Linda Baraka, the wife of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, to succeed Keith Green. He nominated Sarah Adelman, his current human services commissioner, to succeed Annette Catino. The governor picked Tracie DeSarno, a prominent government relations executive and the mother of Murphy’s Chief of Staff Tim Hillmann, to succeed David Molowa. Lastly, Murphy nominated David Jefferson Jr., the director of Kean University’s Center for Africana Studies, to succeed physician Steven Landers, and he renominated Mark Lattouf for another term.
The governor renominated six members to the State Investment Council, which oversees the investment of New Jersey’s funds: Ted Aronson, Wasseem Boraie, Leonard Carr, James Hanson, Samir Pandiri, and Deepak Raj. Murphy also nominated Domenic DiPiero, founder of the investment advisory firm Newport Capital Group, to the council to succeed Charles P. Dolan.
Murphy has renominated five people to the Sports and Exposition Authority, which oversees the Meadowlands Sports Complex: Eric Pennington, John Ballantyne, Gail Gordon, Thomas Mullahey, and Louis Stellato. He also nominated four new members to the authority, including Lt. Gov. Tahesa Way’s chief of staff, Sam Parker, and former Murphy administration official Justin Braz. The other two, Daniel Gumble and Mark Longo, have labor ties. Gumble is the business manager of IBEW Local 164, while Longo is at the Operating Engineers Local 825. The Operating Engineers endorsed Republican Jack Ciattarelli for governor, so Sherrill might not have been keen on nominating him.
Murphy’s also renominated most of William Paterson University’s Board, as well as several trustees from Stockton University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Montclair State University, and Rutgers.
The nominations expire at noon on Jan. 13, when the new Legislature is sworn in. Sherrill doesn’t take office for another week after that, giving Murphy a potential window for a last-ditch push, but it’s unclear whether such an effort will be needed.
A full list of Murphy’s nominees since November can be found here.
This article has been updated to clarify the date of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
