Finding Jobs for Nominees who Failed

John Weingart*

            Op Ed Column; The Star-Ledger; July 30, 2012

As a one-time failed gubernatorial nominee, I applaud the reported efforts by Governor Christie and his staff to find new government positions for Bruce Harris and Phillip Kwon. My story involved a lower profile post almost 20 years ago but had a similar potential to unfairly harm me had the administration at the time forgotten about me or deemed me untouchable once my nomination had been rejected by the Senate.

In 1994, early in her first term, Governor Whitman nominated me to head the Division of Consumer Affairs. The announcement generated considerable positive press coverage in part because I was not of the governor’s party and this particular job had come to be viewed as a political plum ever since it had helped one of my would-be predecessors - Millicent Fenwick – launch a successful Congressional career.

But as with Governor Christie’s two Supreme Court nominees, the legislature did not greet news of my selection with enthusiasm. Even though the majority and the governor were all Republicans in 1994, party leaders in my county felt their new governor should have picked one of their own for the position. Senate leaders made clear that if my nomination was brought to a vote, I would not be confirmed. While it took me several weeks to accept this reality, I eventually withdrew my name.

Those weeks did have moments that were amusing, at least in retrospect. I reached out to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee I knew to try to lobby on my own behalf. One of the Republicans I spoke with told me he was “thrilled” to see me chosen and thought I would do a great job. When I then asked if I could count on his vote in the committee, he replied amiably, “Oh, I’ll do whatever they tell me.”

 My home senator held a press conference to say that he would vote against me, not because I was unqualified, but because he thought me so good at my job as an assistant commissioner in the Department of Environmental Protection. The Star-Ledger story on his statement featured a photo of me over the caption “too valuable.”

But there were more serious impacts. Within the DEP, I used the opportunity of what appeared to be exit interviews to offer a candid critique of department management. Although the commissioner kindly accepted my continuance on his staff when the Consumer Affairs position became unattainable, our relationship was, from that moment forward, different and far from ideal.

My relationships with others also subtly changed. Colleagues who, after 19 years, had taken my presence in DEP for granted, now wondered how long I would last and where I might go next.

Several months later, my name was put in the mix for a position directing a state commission charged with finding a location for the safe storage of low-level radioactive waste. I became interested and the commission members decided I was their candidate, but a director could not be chosen without the support of the governor, who had the power to veto any action through the commission’s minutes. Governor Whitman, in quickly letting it be known that she favored my selection, gave me the opportunity to hold a fascinating job for the next four years that led to experiences, friendships and perspectives I value and would otherwise have missed.

I don’t know how Bruce Harris and Phillip Kwon have experienced their far more public time in the awkward prominence that many failed nominees receive and neither seek nor deserve. The Division of Consumer Affairs is not the Supreme Court. Perhaps neither will come to feel, as I did, that the job presented as a consolation prize is actually better than the one they first thought was theirs. I am glad, however, that other opportunities are apparently being offered to them. It is good to see Governor Christie implicitly acknowledging, as Governor Whitman did in my case, that amidst all the differing viewpoints and political tensions that make governing so challenging, there are real people whose willingness to devote part or all of their careers to public service should be championed and rewarded.

*Associate Director, Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University