Tag: Jose Lozano

Lozano: Unclear who gave Alvarez SDA job

It’s unclear who offered former Schools Development Authority chief of staff Al Alvarez that job. Jose Lozano, the head of Gov. Phil Murphy’s transition team, said he was unaware who offered Alvarez, who has been accused of sexually assaulting State Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency chief of staff Katie Brennan, the job, though he said that wasn’t necessarily out of the ordinary. During his testimony on Tuesday, Lozano repeatedly refrained
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Sweeney: Special Committee investigation will take as long as it takes

Senate President Steve Sweeney on Wednesday said the Special Committee on Oversight’s investigation into the hiring of Al Alvarez could run past the end of February, a soft deadline set by committee co-chair Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, “You can't predetermine what comes out of an investigation. you've got to let the investigation take its course, and if it gets done early, it's done early. If it takes a little
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Cammarano asked Alvarez to leave government in March

Gov. Phil Murphy chief of staff Pete Cammarano on Tuesday said he asked former Schools Development Authority chief of staff Al Alvarez to find a job outside of state government on March 26, months before Alvarez was asked to do the same in June by Charles McKenna, his then-boss at the SDA. Alvarez, who was employed on an at-will basis at the SDA, did not resign until Oct. 2, close
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Cammarano: Alvarez hiring powers were restricted

Gov. Phil Murphy’s outgoing chief of staff Pete Cammarano on Tuesday said Al Alvarez, formerly deputy director of personnel for Murphy’s transition, was stripped of his hiring power in December 2017. “Counsel told us that we should take action to ensure that Mr. Alvarez was not in a position to retaliate against the alleged victim (whomever she might be) by limiting his hiring responsibilities and his ability to reject any
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The Short List to replace Cammarano

It’s no secret that Pete Cammarano will leave his post as Chief of Staff at some point during Gov. Phil Murphy’s first term.  Historically, it’s fairly common for governors to change chiefs at different stages in their term for a multitude of reasons.  While Murphy said in July following the approval of the state budget that he expects no shakeups, speculation remains strong that he will next year– either in
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