State watchdog taps ethics chair for board
New commissioner joins agenyc amid leadershop shakeup
By: Michael L. Diamond
and Charles Stile
Asbury PArk Press
USA Today Network - New Jersey
TRENTON - New Jersey's Seante presidnent has tabbed the chair of the Legislature's ethics commitee to join the commissioners of the state watchdog agency taht has been under scrutiny since hte abrupt resignaiton of its chief executive officer.
..... A. Todd Mayo,a Middlesex County lawyer who was chairman of the ethics committee, was named by Senate President Nick Scutari on Tuesday [02/25/2025] to join the four-person board overseeing the State Commission of Investigation.
..... He becomes the second new commissioner named to the agency in the aftermath of an Asbury Park Press report that found Tiffany Williams Brewer, the CEO, had been named to the $210,000-a-year position even though she listed a home in Maryland as a primary residence, voted in New Jersey and taught fill time at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
..... "The SCI has an important mission and obligation and I'm looking forward to bring part of the agency moving forward with ethics and integrity," Mayo, 63, of South Brunswick, said in an interview.
..... The
appointment of Mayo, who replaced longtime commissioner Robert Buzichelli, is the latest step in a leadership shakeup at the SCI, an independent state agency that is designed to investigate government waste, fraud, corruption and abuse.
..... The independent agency has long been notable for being bipartisan and free from outside influence. But it has been under a microscope of this own since Williams Brewer, the chair of the commission, replaced former executive Director Chadd Lackey, who died in a car accident last summer. [2024]
.....
Williams Brewer resigned shortly after the Press report.
..... Since then:
* The state Attorney General's Office has served the SCI with a subpoena seeking documents related to Williams Brewer's hiring.
* The Press reported that Williams Brewer was named to the position even though her out-of-state residence and teaching job were listed on her resume.
* Lawmakers have wondered whether the SCI's mission overlapped with other state agencies.
..... Scutari, who floated the idea of consolidation watchdog agencies, said Tuesday [02/25/2025] that he wanted to see the SCI get back to work but didn't rule out reforms. He said he had heard many ideas, but when asked if he could specify promising ones, he said he would defer to the commissioners.
..... As Senate president, Scutari names one commissioner.
..... The Assembly speaker appoints another. and the governor appoints two more.
..... In the recent shakeup, commissioner John Lacey took over for Williams Brewer as chair; Governor Phil Murphy appointed lawyer Joseph E. Kelly to the board; and SCI Deputy Director Salma Chand has been leading the commission's day-to-day operations, while the agency searches for a permanent executive director.
.....
As commissioner, Mayo is eligible to serve two four-year terms and will make $35,000 a year in the role. He replaces Burzichelli, who joined as a commissioner in 2014, finishing a unexpired term before serving tow more.
A background in ethics
..... Mayo is a former Municipal court judge and workers' compensation judge. He has his own law firm, which specializes in personal injury and workers' compensation cases.
..... He served for three years as chairman of the Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards, a state broad that rules on complaints filed against legislators or staff members accused of violating the state's conflict of interest and code of ethics laws.
..... Mayo said he still needed to be brought up to speed on the SCI's history, but through he was selected because of his background in ethics.
..... And he hoped the new executive director also would have ethics top of mind.
.....
He and the other commissioners "are looking for someone who is a good leader, who has good ethics," Mayo said.