The stalemate between Gov. Chris Christie and legislators over vacant court benches is a big step closer to being over. The Senate Judiciary Committee has unanimously confirmed eight judges to fill the posts in Essex County courts. Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D) told NJTV News Anchor Mary Alice Williams that filling the posts was better than having them left vacant.
“It’s certainly better than not having approved them,” said Weinberg. “Essex County in particular has a very long and onerous shortage, so I think this will go part of the way to helping alleviate that. I don’t know if the average citizen realized how important it is to have a full judiciary. Whether their cases are small claims or daily law issues or issues of criminal activity, if you don’t have a judge to hear the case, your case never gets adjudicated.”
In Bergen County, judge vacancies have postponed civil cases that would go longer than two weeks. Weinberg said that she was a little mystified about the vacancies and that there has been general agreement between the senators in Bergen County of what names they’re willing to recommend to the governor.
She also said that the senators were willing to sign off on six names for the six openings in Bergen County.
“As far as I know, among us — meaning the five state senators that represent Bergen County — we were all willing to sign off on those six names which equal the number of openings that exist in Bergen County right now,” said Weinberg.
Last week the New Jersey State Bar Association sent a letter to Gov. Christie urging him to “put personal and political differences aside.” Weinberg said that Judge Doyne was right to call attention to the potential of problems since six openings do exist.
Christie recently vetoed two bills that Weinberg had sponsored — the Unfair Wage Recovery Act and the Wage Transparency Act.
“I think the governor has some kind of anti-woman veto pen that he must keep in a special place on his desk whether we’re talking about money for family planning center that he’s vetoed,” said Weinberg. “Both these bills are about pay equity for women and there is no legitimate reason why they would be vetoed. Except of course the governor is a national candidate and seems to be more interested in pleasing the very right wing conservative element of the Republican Party, rather than worrying about the women of New Jersey.”
It was also the second time that Christie has vetoed both of the bills, but Weinberg said she’s not losing hope.
“I always describe myself as being an optimist,” Weinberg said. “If I weren’t optimistic, it would be difficult to kind of stay as a member of the legislature to work toward the kinds of things I believe in and I point to issues like banning indoor smoking. That took over 10 years from the time I first became involved with that issue. To marriage equality, which took an equal amount of time. So in this environment, one needs patience and focus and then hopefully a new governor who will look kind to signing these bills.”