An employee of the hedge fund run by State Investment Council Chairman Orin Kramer has been charged with stealing more than $1.3 million from the firm, according to a Bloomberg report.

Ezra Levy, a trader at the Kramer-run firm Boston Provident, allegedly transferred $726,000 of the company’s money to his own bank account and generated $600,000 in profit by buying shares of an energy company at inflated prices.

According to a statement released by the firm that is cited in the Bloomberg story, Levy was terminated as soon as Boston Provident learned of the alleged conduct, and the firm contacted the U.S. Attorney’s Office.  Kramer will pay the losses incurred from the alleged crime.

Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange)

Her early critics quietly grumble that she's a political neophyte - the preferred Essex County term of art for someone who rises too quickly in politics.

But Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange), a veteran of East Orange local politics, said she is more than ready to assume the lead role in the lower house come Nov. 23rd, when both the Assemby and the senate are scheduled to vote on leadership. 

Her rapid ascent coincides with the fast dimming political career of lame duck Gov. Jon Corzine.

"He genuinely wanted to effectuate glaring social issues of interest to a broad cross section to advocay groups, but did not understand the complexity of navigating the shark and barracuda filled waters of New Jersey politics," said Oliver when asked to reflect on Corzine's legacy.  

Poised with a sufficient number of caucus votes to become the Assembly's first African American woman speaker as succesor to Speaker Joe Roberts (D-Camden), Oliver said she received a phone call yesterday from Gov.-elect Chris Christie but was unavailable. She said she intends to return his call today.

Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland)

Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland) will make his own appointment to a 2010 congressional redistricting commission and leave a second seat for his presumptive successor to fill with his own choice.

The former governor's game plan comes in the face of state Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney's (D-West Deptford) control of the lionshare of Democratic caucus votes and Codey's likely imminent defeat come Jan. 12th when the senate reorganizes.

"I intend to make one of those appointments and leave a second appointment for Steve," former Gov. Codey told PolitickerNJ.com.

The Inside Edge yesterday reported that Codey could appoint two congressional redistricting members to the six-member commission before the end of his current term, according to the law.

Former U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie, left, will become the 55th Governor of New Jersey in January, after defeating incumbent Jon Corzine, right, by more than 100,000 votes.  Democrats lost just one Assembly seat, but the GOP picked up eight Freeholder seats across the state.  Christie is the first Republican to win statewide in twelve years, and his plurality was the second best for a GOP challenger against a Democratic incumbent in state history. Corzine, who spent over $130 million of his own money running for office over the last nine years, won just 45% of the vote.  Christopher Daggett, a former state environmental protection commissioner who qualified for matching funds, spent over $1.5 million, and won the endorsement of the state's largest newspaper, received a pitiful 6% of the vote.

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HAMILTON -- Governor-elect Christopher Christie continued his post-election education theme today, appearing in front of hundreds of students at Steinert High School in Hamilton Township this afternoon. 

The suburban environment surrounding the school, which counts Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito as an alumn along with two legislators who attended the assembly - state Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Hamilton) and Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton) - provided a striking contrast to Christie's campaign stop on his first full day as Governor Elect, at the Robert Treat Academy in Newark. 

After praising the school's academic record, Christie told the students that kids in New Jersey's cities deserve the same quality.

"Those people, because of where they're born and where they live, are not getting the same education," he said. "Those kids in Trenton, Camden, Newark, Jersey City, Asbury Park - those kids deserve the same kind of education you all get in Hamilton -- at Steinert."

About half of the students gave Christie a standing ovation when he was introduced. 

Most of the assembly was taken up by a question and answer session, with students  asking Christie questions they wrote out on note cards.

Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon (front row, left), with Monmouth County Republican Committee Chairman Joe Oxley (front, center) and state Sen. Joe Kyrillos (head bowed, over Oxley's left shoulder)

He sits on the budget committee as a member of the minority party calling into that chasm between himself and Democrats running both the executive and legislative branches.

But while the opposition last Tuesday maintained its hegemony on the legislative side, the GOP now has a governor-elect in Chris Christie, from whom Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon (R-Little Silver) trusts there will be an invitation of engagement.

"I'm hoping the Chris Christie administration will work hand in hand with the legislature and I'm hoping folks like me will have a seat at the table policywise," O'Scanlon said. "The cabinet needs to be about real reform, not re-election four years from now. I'm looking forward to a cabinet created that way. I hope it's going to be an open administration.

"As a member of the budget committee I hope to be included and I would like to believe one won't need a cabinet position in order to have input," added O'Scanlon.

State Sen. Diane Allen (R-Burlington) today acknowledged that she has been diagnosed with an aggressive cancer, and is exploring treatment options.

The veteran Republican senator expects to undergo surgery as early as this week.

"My illness has shown me again just how much the good people of my district and the state of New Jersey care about others," Allen said in a statement. "It's impossible to express how grateful I am for their outpourings of caring, support and love."

The senator asked for prayers for her healthy return to the Senate as she, her family, and medical professionals come up with strategies to beat her disease.

"My plan is to return to the floor of the Senate at the first opportunity," Allen said. "No illness will prevent me or my experienced and dedicated staff from providing the people of my district with full representation. My district office is open and ready to help any constituent who contacts us."

Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac

Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac told PolitickerNJ.com he does not want to chair the Middlesex County Democratic Organization.

"No, that's just somebody starting trouble," said the mayor, whose town, Woodbridge, went for GOP candidate Chris Christie over Gov. Jon Corzine even as McCormac's local Democrats won in all but one of the wards where they contended.

"Not interested," said McCormac, who also denied he is interested in leading the state party organization.

Some Democrats quietly fumed and blamed the former State Treasurer for working against Corzine during the campaign, but the mayor all along said he was focused on electing local candidates and preserving a majority on the council.

Association with an unpopular incumbent governor was not in his best local interest.

Christie two days after the election surfaced on the streets of Woodbridge to hobnob with McCormac and local busness owners.

Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini (R-Ocean) with her daughter, Toni, a Matawan councilwoman-elect.

The Chris Christie cabinetmaking process has begun and among insiders talk inevitably turns to Republican candidates who are already out there in the public sphere with specific expertise - people like Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Parsippany), Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini (R-Ocean) and Assemblyman John Amodeo (R-Margate), among many others.

"If Chris Christie asked me, I would take it under serious consideration," said Angelini, the executive director of a youth nonprofit whose name has surfaced early as a possibile commissioner of human services in a Christie administration.

"I'm happy where I am," added the assemblywoman, who had several reasons to celebrate last Tuesday night.

Not only did the Monmouth County-based legislator's choice for governor win, but she and her running mate Assemblyman David Rible (R-Wall) won by larger margins than two years ago, and her daughter, Toni, was elected to the Matawan Borough Council.

Toiling in the minority for the past two years with a Democratic governor in charge, Angelini said she never knew a different Trenton terrain, and is thrilled now to be a forward observer to a change in her party's favor on the executive side of government.