Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey has nominated a former federal prosecutor from his days as U.S. Attorney in the Garden State, tapping Richard Constable III to head the Department of Community Affairs.
The current DCA Commissioner, Lori Grifa, is stepping down effective Jan. 2, when she will return to the Wolff & Samson law firm, the Asbury Park Press reported.
Constable, 39, is currently a deputy commissioner in the Department of Labor & Workforce Development and was one of Christie’s first appointment to be an Assistant U.S. Attorney. He lives in Orange.
The New Jersey governor, who was U.S. Attorney from 2002 to 2008, has appointed dozens of ex-prosecutors, either to work for him directly or to judgeships, as Main Justice reported months ago.
Attention DOJ IG. There is a law popularly known as the Hatch Act. Gov. Christie may or may not have violated it when he was the USA. But where there is smoke (and there is certainly smoke here), fire is often to be found.