Informed sources said recently that Superior Court Judge Esther Suarez will be named as the new Hudson County prosecutor as part of a compromise agreement, provided Gov. Christopher Christie signs off on the deal.
Suarez, a native of Bayonne, served as counsel for the city of Hoboken before moving on to become a superior court judge in Passaic County. If appointed, she will serve a five-year term as prosecutor.
Suarez was born and raised in Bayonne.
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Hudson County has been without a prosecutor since early June, 2012, when two-term prosecutor Ed DeFazio was appointed as a judge.
Gaetano Gregory has served as acting prosecutor since then, but last month, the Hudson County freeholders asked Christie to make an appointment.
Christie has blamed the three Hudson County state senators – Nicholas Sacco (D-32nd Dist.), Brian Stack (D-33rd) and Sandra Cunningham (D-31st) – for the hold up.
Three candidates were apparently being considered: Acting Prosecutor Gregory, Union City Attorney Julio C. Morejon, and Suarez.
Freeholder Chairman Junior Maldonado said he believed Morejon and Suarez were both qualified, and that a Hispanic prosecutor would be appropriate since more than 40 percent of the population of Hudson County is Hispanic.
The freeholders voted in January to petition Christie to appoint a permanent prosecutor. Both Maldonado and Freeholder Anthony Romano said this push was not an endorsement of any candidate, although some of the groups promoting Morejon had lobbied for the vote, and later used the freeholder vote in bolstering their case for Morejon.
Some freeholders questioned the hard sell that the statewide and national Latino law enforcement and non-law enforcement organizations gave Morejon, along with allies throughout New Jersey. There was a request to Christie and the New Jersey legislature to take immediate action to appoint Morejon.
The county prosecutor is a constitutional officer, nominated and appointed by the governor with the consent of the state Senate. This means that while the governor has the authority to make the appointment, senators in the district can block a nomination using what is called “senatorial courtesy.”
While Cunningham and Sacco appeared to have no issues with Morejon, Stack apparently does not want him.
Morejon appears to have raised concerns in Union City after he was selected to represent the Union City Housing Authority two years ago replacing Libero Marotta, an ally of Stack. Anti-Stack forces in Union City used a legal loophole to remove Marotta to replace him with Morejon.
While the prosecutor’s office oversees most serious crimes committed in the county, including murders, it has also frequently been called on to investigate local corruption and election fraud cases. This raises concerns about any candidate with strong ties to political figures in Hudson County.
A number of very powerful statewide Latino organizations lobbied hard to get Morejon appointed.
Several freeholders said that Esther Suarez would make a good compromise, but she no longer has a residence in Hoboken or Hudson County, complicating the issue. She is expected to move back into Hudson County to meet the residential requirement that will allow her to serve as county prosecutor.
Suarez grew up in Bayonne
Suarez, who serves in Passaic County as Superior Court judge, is seen as a compromise candidate. She was appointed to the court in 2010 by then Gov. Jon Corzine, just prior to Corzine leaving office.
Suarez was born and raised in Bayonne. She has a number of family members living and doing in business in Bayonne. After graduating from high school, she went on to college at Rutgers University where she earned her undergraduate degree from Douglas College. She later earned a Juris Doctor degree in 1997.
Suarez worked corporation counsel in Hoboken from 2001 to 2003, the director of the Law Department County Counsel in Bergen County, a county adjuster, and general counsel of the Union City Parking Authority. She is a former associate with Scarinci & Hollenbeck. Scarinci & Hollenbeck’s clientele is made up mostly of municipalities and county governments. While at the firm, she concentrated on labor and municipal law and mostly worked in Union City.
Suarez first burst onto the Hoboken scene in September of 2000 when she was the lead attorney for a very publicized lawsuit dealing with employee longevity payments. Suarez was not the city’s attorney at the time, and was hired to represent a local taxpayer. The case resulted in city employees having to return well over a $100,000 in longevity payments, which went directly back into the city’s coffers. Some of those who had to return money were the city’s former corporation counsel, business administrator, and a former mayor.
Morejon supported by police and Latino organizations
A former deputy attorney general for the state of New Jersey, Morejon also served as a municipal court judge for West New York for four years until he was appointed their town attorney in 2011 when Mayor Felix Roque moved him to the Board of Education.
The lobbying for Morejon began almost as soon as the prosecutor seat was vacated in June 2012, but reached epic proportions recently, as statewide law enforcement organizations endorsed him.
Antonio Hernandez, spokesman for the coalition and president of the National Coalition of Latino Officers, said, “As crime continues to trend up and trial statistics become more problematic, it is important now more than ever that Mr. Morejon be nominated to this position.”
Hernandez noted that Hudson County is home to the largest number of Latinos in the state. The governor’s office, he added, called upon Morejon to be officially vetted as Hudson County prosecutor in March 2013. He was also vetted by the New Jersey State Bar Association in June 2013, and the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey in April 2013.
Morejon’s record of achievement includes receiving a B.S. from Cornell University and a law degree from Seton Hall. Morejon became the New Jersey Deputy Attorney General in 1986. He later became municipal prosecutor for the city of Union City, then for West New York, then for Bloomfield, and most recently, for North Bergen.
Art Schwartz may be reached at arts@hudsonreporter.com.To comment on this story on-line, go to our website, www.hudsonreporter.com.