Michael Chertoff

Michael Chertoff, who was New Jersey's U.S. Attorney in the 1990's, says it's a stretch to accuse Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra of trying to help Chris Christie's campaign for governor. The Record's Herb Jackson asked the former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security about reports that the Justice Department was investigating Marra's comments:

Q: Did Marra cross a line with his comments?

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Former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff generally stays away from the political realm, but he made an exception today to praise newly minted lieutenant governor candidate Kim Guadagno.

Guadagno's time working as an assistant U.S. Attorney in New Jersey overlapped with Chertoff's leadership of the office in the early 1990s. 

“I generally stay out of political commentary, but I will tell you that she was an outstanding public servant and prosecutor.  She worked on some really high profile and significant cases.  Great judgment, lots of integrity and very smart,” he said in a phone interview with PolitickerNJ.com.

Chertoff served as a U.S. Appeals Court Judge and as Assistant U.S. Attorney General before President Bush appointed him to head the Department of Homeland Security in 2005.  The Union County native now practices law in Washington.

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U.S. Senators Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez have asked President Obama to appoint Paul Fishman as  New Jersey's 48th United States Attorney.  Past U.S. Attorneys have included a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, a Secretary of Homeland Security, a state Attorney General, and several federal Judges.

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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson has been granted cabinet level status in Barack Obama’s administration – as Christie Whitman when George W. Bush was President.  But the EPA is not a cabinet level department and Jackson will lack some of the legal duties of a cabinet member.  Jackson is not in the line of presidential succession and would not have a vote if the cabinet discussed invoking the 25th amendment.

The last New Jerseyan in the line of succession was Michael Chertoff, who was 18th during his tenure as U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security. 

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President Bush made some last minute appointments that included three New Jerseyans: U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and GOP fundraiser Cheryl Halpern were appointed to five-year terms on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. And the general manager of the New York Mets, Omar Minaya, was named to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.

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Lisa Jackson, Barack Obama's choice to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, becomes the 18th New Jerseyan to serve in the President's cabinet since James Madison picked Samuel Southard to serve as U.S. Secretary of the Navy.  Jackson also becomes the first African American from New Jersey to serve in the cabinet.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SLIDESHOW OF NEW JERSEYANS IN THE CABINET

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On the day Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff came back to his hometown to address students at Kean University in the waning days of his term of service with the Bush administration, U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-Haddon Heights) took a moment to access his legacy.

“We were fortunate to have a person of Secretary Chertoff's abilities and level of commitment serving our country,” said Andrews said in a statement. “He served well at a difficult time.”

In his speech at Kean, the Union County-born secretary expressed frustration with the traditional committee system in Congress.

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UNION – Talk to people in New Jersey’s legal profession and no one denies that what Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff perhaps lacks in charisma or courtroom presence, he compensates for with something more fundamental:  profound powers of reason. 

“Going back 20 years, he was a great lawyer, a brilliant lawyer – hard but fair,” said attorney Ted Wells.

His friends in the New Jersey political world say Chertoff’s a creature of hard analysis not politics.  “This is one of the brilliant legal minds of the country,” said Assemblyman Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield), who introduced Chertoff today at Kean University, where the Homeland Security Secretary and author of the USA Patriot Act reflected on his three-year term in the Bush administration.

His tenure included his grim mea culpa in front of Congress following what he acknowledged was his department’s 2005 failure to respond effectively to Hurricane Katrina. 

But Katrina didn’t come up today as a cross-section of audience members in friendly fashion mostly picked the Elizabeth native’s brain about general public policy during the question and answer portion of his presentation.

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UNION – As former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie publicly mulls a run for governor, Assemblyman David Rible (R-Wall) says he believes the Republican Party should rally around one candidate for governor before the June primary.

“We have to get unified,” said Rible, who didn’t discount the value of a GOP Primary fight, but also doesn’t want to see a bloodletting that could leave his party sapped by the time a candidate squares of with the muscle-bound war chest of incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine.

Of Christie, the former Wall Township police officer turned legislator, said, “He has a tremendous resume and good name ID. He’s not a far right conservative, and that’s good. I’m not sure New Jersey is looking for someone from the party’s far right.”

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U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff will reflect on his time in office and discuss the nation’s preparedness at a special 9 a.m. appearance on Thursday, Dec. 4, at Kean University in Union. 

A former U.S. Attorney in New Jersey and Elizabeth native, Chertoff has served as the country’s chief security officer since 2005.

Assemblyman Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield), a friend of Chertoff’s, arranged the speaking event with the college.

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