Attorney General Anne Milgram had already decided she would leave her post when Gov. Jon Corzine lost his bid for re-election. She has been seeking jobs in Washington, D.C., where she lived when she worked on Corzine's U.S. Senate staff. Her spokesman, David Wald, told PolitickerNJ.com yesterday denied reports that Milgram was headed to the U.S. Department of Justice to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
It will be interesting to see what the new Republican governor does with Wald, who was dominate political reporter in the state from 1978 to 2000, when he left the Star-Ledger to join Corzine's campaign staff when he ran for the Senate. Wald worked in Corzine's Senate office before taking the Attorney General's communications director after Corzine named Zulima Farber to the post after the 2005 election.
Gov.-elect Christopher Christie will also have to decide what to do with other former reporters who wound up getting jobs with Democratic governors in recent years. Deborah Howlett, who was covering Corzine for the Star-Ledger when he hired her as Communications Director, is sure to be a goner. Corzine demoted Howlett a few months ago, although she remains on the front office payroll.
Also at risk: former Star-Ledger reporter and columnist Kathy Barrett Carter, who joined Corzine's staff this year doing policy communications; former Gannett reporter Lilo Stainton, who was Corzine's press secretary and now works for the Sports Authority; former Trenton Times reporters Mark Perkiss and Larry Hanover; former Associated Press reporter Ralph Siegel; and Siegal's wife, former Star-Ledger reporter Donna Leusner.
