UNION CITY AND BEYOND — “A lot of people think a county prosecutor is just someone who comes out in front of a microphone or on a press release to announce big crimes,” attorney, North Bergen’s Municipal Prosecutor Julio Morejon said. “It’s not only crime prevention. You have to work with the local municipalities, the Board of Education, and there’s a large community service component as well.”
Current Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio’s second five-year term is set to expire this month, and as he has Gov. Christopher Christie’s nomination for state superior court judge, the position will have to be filled. DeFazio, a Democrat nominated for his first term in 2002 by former Gov. Jim McGreevey (D) and again five years later by former Gov. Jon Corzine (D), worked in the prosecutor’s office as an assistant and made his way up.
Morejon, a Democrat and a 35-year resident of Union City, hopes to be the one to fill that role.
Christie, a Republican and former federal prosecutor, will nominate the candidate he sees fit who will then be recommended to the state Senate Judiciary Committee made up of eight to 10 state senators.
“They vet you, ask you questions, and depending on how you do they’ll either recommend you to the full Senate or not,” Morejon explained. “After everything I’ve done in my life, I feel like this would be the natural progression.”
For more about becoming county prosecutor and Morejon’s story, read this weekend’s edition of the Hudson Reporter. — Gennarose Pope