With Nia Gill (D-Montclair) gone from the New Jersey State Senate, Gov. Phil Murphy has renominated two Essex County residents blocked by the former senator.
Ted Stephens III has been the acting Essex County Prosecutor since 2018, and former CWA State Director Hetty Rosenstein has been awaiting Senate confirmation to the Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield Board of Directors since late 2022. Gill used the unwritten rule of senatorial courtesy to prevent the Senate from considering Stephens and Rosenstein.
Both are now in good shape to move through the Senate.
Gill, a 30-year veteran of the legislature, lost her bid for renomination in the Democratic primary last year after redistricting forced her into the same district as another incumbent, Richard J. Codey (D-Roseland). After defeating Gill by sixteen percentage points, Codey later opted to retire after fifty years in Trenton.
Stephens was a former East Orange judge serving his second term as Essex County Surrogate when Murphy tapped him to become prosecutor. He had signoff from the other three Essex senators, but Gill refused to support him.
Rosenstein, one of the most consequential women labor leaders in state history, didn’t get a signoff from Gill until last November, nearly a year after her nomination.
Gill had also blocked Cari Fais, Murphy’s pick for as director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs until late last year. She has also been resubmitted to the Senate.
Murphy renominated Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella to another term but has yet to say if he will stick with Camelia Valdes, the embattled Passaic County Prosecutor. Murphy has renominated Valdes twice, but she has been unable to get confirmed by the State Senate. State Sen. Kristin Corrado (R-Totowa) and several local police unions have called for Valdes to resign, citing her refusal to investigate Paterson police officers who were later convicted of corrupt acts in federal court.