Codey says he’ll ‘fight to the death’ for Juliano to replace Brown on Horizon board

Former Gov. Richard J. Codey is firmly behind the nomination of Bergen County Democratic Chairman Paul Juliano for a seat on the Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey Board of Directors.

“I will fight to the death for Paul Juliano,” Codey, a Democratic state senator from Essex County, told the New Jersey Globe.

Gov. Phil Murphy filed his nomination of Juliano on Thursday to replace Michele Brown, a former top aide to Republican Gov. Chris Christie.

Christie has been pushing for Brown to keep the job as a holdover, something that occurs only if the State Senate declines to confirm Juliano.

“The nomination of Michele Brown should never have happened,” he said.

The often-controversial Brown, a former federal prosecutor, came after Christie withdrew her nomination to a Superior Court judgeship during his final year as governor.

Brown has served as Christie’s appointments counsel, as the CEO of the Economic Development Authority, and later as the $450,000-a-year CEO of Choose New Jersey, a privately-funded group formed by Christie allies to help attract new businesses to the state.

In addition to her $76,000-a-year Horizon board post, Brown is the executive director of the non-profit Christie Institute for Public Policy