Thread: N.J.: Milgram won't be part of new team

Milgram won't be part of new team
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Chris Megerian
STATEHOUSE

Gov.-elect Chris Christie said yesterday Anne Milgram won't stay on as attorney general in his administration.

"She says she doesn't want to stay," Christie told reporters after speaking to high school students in Hamilton. "Someone who says they don't want to stay, I don't want to consider."

Milgram spokesman David Wald said the attorney general was not planning to work in Christie's administration, adding that she hasn't spoken with either the incoming governor or members of his transition team.

Christie, a former U.S. attorney, has praised Milgram's ability as a prosecutor, and the two worked together to put former Newark Mayor Sharpe James behind bars for fraud and conspiracy.

It's routine for new executives to name their own people to top positions. Christie has not named a replacement for Milgram, but says he wants a "tough" prosecutor who will work well with the U.S. Attorney's office and make fighting corruption a priority.

Milgram worked for the U.S. Department of Justice before joining Corzine's U.S. Senate office in 2005. After Corzine became governor, she served as first assistant under former attorneys general Zulima Farber and Stuart Rabner, then ascended to the top post in June 2007. Milgram was 36 when she took the job, making her the second-youngest attorney general in state history.

New Jersey's attorney general is both top cop and top lawyer, leading 9,000 employees at the Department of Law and Public Safety. The attorney general also oversees the State Police, the Division of Criminal Justice and the Division of Law, which functions as the state's law firm.

Farber, now a partner at a Roseland law firm, praised Milgram as a tireless and talented attorney.

"I didn't make any decisions without talking with her," she said. "I considered her input invaluable."

Wald did not detail Milgram's plans or whether she had planned to leave regardless of the election's outcome.

As attorney general, Milgram's targets have ranged from mortgage fraud to gang violence. She also clashed with State Police unions over promotions and disciplinary actions and traded barbs with outgoing Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello and Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno on immigration issues.

Guadagno, who was elected lieutenant governor last week, said Milgram spread inaccurate information about immigration enforcement in Monmouth. Milgram said she was worried the county's participation in a federal program that deputizes local authorities as immigration officers could lead to racial profiling.

www.nj.com

Good Riddance!