Scutari and Lesniak want Milgram Nominee held

by: Jason Springer

Wed Jul 22, 2009 at 12:15:00 PM EDT

Here's an interesting development. Senator Ray Lesniak and Nick Scutari are asking the civil rights commission to hold the nomination of Chin Le, Attorney General Milgram's choice to run the division on civil rights:

Lesniak and Scutari questioned Le's residency, depth of experience with gay rights issues and Milgram's judgment in nominating him.
In a letter to the civil rights commission and Gov. Jon Corzine's office, the senators denounced the Attorney General's "lack of respect for the licensed attorneys" in New Jersey and "disregard of the civil rights of the gay residents of our state."
"(Milgram is) choosing her personal friends for this position and not even considering New Jersey lawyers," Lesniak said. "It's worse than patronage. She's practicing cronyism."

Milgram's office responded denying the charges and defending Le:

Wald disputed Lesniak's charges, saying Milgram has never worked with Le.
"This is not a crony," he said. "This is a highly qualified individual."
[snip]
"Chinh Le has an extraordinary background and commitment to justice and civil rights," Milgram said in a statement. "His experience and involvement in the important social and civil issues facing our state make him well-qualified to lead the division."

I reached out to Steven Goldstein with Garden State Equality and this is what he had to say:

We urge the Commission on Civil Rights to approach this appointment with great scrutiny, particularly given the circumstances under which the Attorney General forced out the previous Director, Frank Vespa-Papaleo. Frank was the best Director of Civil Rights our state ever had. He revolutionized his department into a nationally respected civil rights powerhouse ? and was also the highest ranking, openly gay agency head in state government.
The Attorney General has nominated someone completely unknown to the LGBT community ? a community denied equality under New Jersey law and for whom this position, consequently, is of great importance. The burden is on the Attorney General to further demonstrate that her nominee will continue Frank Vespa-Papaleo?s record of outstanding advocacy for every community, including ours. Right now, that is an open question.

The Commission will now decide how they want to proceed and if they want to heed the requests to move slowly and even hold the nomination for a close look.

Jason Springer :: Scutari and Lesniak want Milgram Nominee held