Helen Hoens

The announcement today that Dr. Frederick Herrmann will retire after 23 years as Executive Director of the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission prompts speculation on his successor.  While Herrmann had built a reputation as a non-partisan enforcer of campaign finance laws, his three predecessors came from political backgrounds – and while the new Executive Director will be named by the four ELEC Commissioners (two Democrats and two Republicans), it’s more likely that Gov. Jon Corzine will influence the process. 

With some senior Star-Ledger reporters being offered buyouts, one possible candidate for Herrmann’s $125,000-a-year job is Robert Schwaneberg, who spent years covering state government, including the Judiciary and ELEC.  Schwaneberg, the husband of New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Helen Hoens, is well-liked by Corzine and by Democratic and Republican leaders.  One front office insider suggested that several soon-to-be former Star-Ledger reporters will find their way into the administration.

Click on this image to enlargeOnly in New Jersey can a lawyer tout his marriage to a Supreme Court Justice on his law firm's website as way of drumming up legal work. Jonathan Weiner, a partner at Fox Rothschild, a large and politically active law firm with a government affairs and gaming law practice, notes in his official biography that his wife, Virginia Long, is an Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court with lifetime tenure. Weiner is also the general counsel of the Health Care Association of New Jersey, and rather amazingly, notes that “he was recently re-appointed by the Supreme Court of New Jersey to a second two-year term on its Civil Practice Committee.”

Robert Schwaneberg is one of the Star-Ledger's most respected reporters -- a true professional with the highest possible ethics. But his coverage of Governor Jon Corzine's recovery from a serious automobile accident two weeks ago offers a potential appearance of a conflict: last year, Corzine appointed Schwaneberg's wife, Helen Hoens, to the New Jersey Supreme Court.

If Corzine's ability to serve is ever challenged by the Legislature, it would be up to the Supreme Court to decide whether he could continue as Governor. The Star-Ledger has an exceptionally able team in Trenton, and it could be helpful to the people's long-term interests -- which could include a constitutional crisis -- if they helped avoid a situation where one of the seven Justices is forced to recuse herself.

Two of the people reportedly under consideration for appointment as an Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court have especially close ties to the state's largest newspaper. John Farmer, Jr., a former state Attorney General who was -- for about ninety minutes -- the Governor of New Jersey in 2002, is the son of John Farmer, the Star-Ledger's National Political Correspondent. Helen Hoens, a state Appellate Court Judge, is the wife of veteran reporter Robert Schwanenberg, who covers the state judiciary for the Star-Ledger.