Hazel Gluck

Judy Shaw is retiring as a partner in one of Trenton's biggest lobbying firmsCiting health issues, Judy Shaw, a former Chief of Staff to Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and a partner in a major State Street lobbying firm, announced her retirement today.  She will remain with MBI GluckShaw as “of counsel” in the firm she started with Hazel Gluck.

Shaw underwent extensive back surgery in February and requires extensive rehabilitation. She will divide her time between homes in Florida and Massachusetts. 

Governor Jon "Hold Me Accountable/Zero Tolerance" Corzine has named lobbyist Hazel Gluck to the New Jersey Public Officers Salary Review Commission. Some pundits say the nomination has the potential for numerous conflicts: the Public Officers Salary Review Commission reviews the salaries of the Governor and cabinet officers, which means, arguably, that she can help set the salaries of the people she lobbies.

Here are some potential examples:

Governor Jon Corzine has some bizarre obsession with lobbyist Hazel Gluck.  The Hold Me Accountable guy appointed the former Kean administration cabinet official to serve on the Governmental Efficiency and Reform Correctional Sentencing Task Force. That appointment, announced at the conclusion of Corzine’s three-day urban crime tour, comes nine days after he named Gluck to the New Jersey Public Officers Salary Review Commission.

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.

Hazel Gluck got her consolation prize today: Governor Jon "Hold Me Accountable/Zero Tolerance" Corzine named the Trenton lobbyist to the New Jersey Public Officers Salary Review Commission.  In August 2006, Corzine named Gluck to the Board of Trustees of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, but backed off after critics ripped him for Gluck's apparent conflict: she had been the lobbyist for the New Jersey Medical Society.

Some pundits say the latest Gluck nomination is no less conflicting: the Public Officers Salary Review Commission reviewing the salaries of the Governor and cabinet officers, which means, arguably, that she can help set the salaries of the people she lobbies.

Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly is expressing interest in the open State Assembly seat in the ninth district, and insiders say that he would be the front runner for the job if he decides to enter the race. Ocean Township Mayor Daniel Van Pelt, who was edged out for an Assembly seat by Brian Rumpf in 2003, is expected to run. If Kelly decides against a legislative bid, Freeholder John Bartlett, a former Pine Beach Mayor who has spent more than twenty years in county government, could enter the race.

State Senator Leonard Connors announcement that he will not seek re-election to a ninth term is expected to result in an open Assembly seat. His son, Assemblyman Christopher Connors, is viewed as the leading candidate to replace his father in the Senate.

Look for some Republicans to advocate the nomination of a woman for the Assembly or Freeholder in 2007: the Ocean County GOP has not sent a woman to the Board of Freeholders since Hazel Gluck more than thirty years ago, and has not run a woman for State Assembly since Virginia Haines won a second term in 1993.

Republican Hazel Gluck, a lobbyist who served as a State Assemblywoman and in Governor Thomas Kean's cabinet, was named todayby Governor Jon Corzine to the Board of Trustees of the embattled University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The New Jersey Medical Society is among the clients of Gluck's lobbying firm.