One of the gripes some members of the state political elite have with Gov. Jon Corzine is that politically he can be a bit tone deaf. Here's an example: yesterday, Corzine announced a rather bold proposal for campaign finance reform, taking on those so-called party bosses and special interest groups. Then later in the day, he quitely nominated a new member of the state Ethics Commission: newly-elected Democratic National Committeewoman Stephanie Bush-Baskette, a former Assemblywoman from East Orange and state Community Affairs Commissioner. She now works (albeit part-time) at Florio Perrucci Steinhardt & Fader, a politically active law firm that is registered to lobby state government. The highly regarded Bush-Baskette also runs an urban policy center at Rutgers University, which has numerous overlaps with state government.
(Editor's note: Bush-Baskette, who defeated Roz Samuels for the DNC seat in July and took office a few weeks ago, resigned her seat yesterday, just prior to Corzine's announcement.)
Corzine also renominated Bill Schluter, a former Republican State Senator from Mercer County and a longtime ethics watchdog. Schluter holds no party post and does not lobby.
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