State official juggling 2 big jobs

Murphy's chief of staff also running the DOT

By: Colleen Wilson
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... Diane Gutierrez_Scacetti was suppose to shed the role of state Department of Transportation commissioner on January 12 [2024] to become Governor Phil Murphy's chief of staff.
..... But that date has come and gone and Gutierez-Scaccetti remains in both jobs - arguably tow of the biggest, most-demanding posts in New Jersey government.
..... This comes as the state emerged from a lame-duck session of the legislature without getting big-ticket issues over the finish line, as the state hurtles toward significant budget challenges, and as a report surfaced about internal strife among Murphy's most senior Cabinet position.
..... Meanwhile, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority does not have a budget currently, and there is no solution in sight for NJ Transit's historic budget shortfalls. Both are agencies whose boards she chairs as commissioner.
..... "Governor Murphy is confident in Diane's ability to continue managing the day-to-day aspects of her position as commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Transportation in the near term while fulfilling her responsibilities as the governor's chief of staff," said Baily Lawrence, a spokesman for Murphy.
..... However, Gutierrez-Scaccetti will not continue the agency boards. Joesph Bertoni, her deputy commissioner at the DOT, will step in as the commissioner's designer."
.... Since October, [2023] Gutierrez-Scaccetti has served as Murphy's chief of staff and transportation commissioner - earning one $175,000 salary - after the announcement from George Helmy that he was stepping down as Murphy's right hand after nearly five years in the role.
..... Two legislators and some public policy academics agree that doing both jobs is not sustainable.
..... "The longer she does both, the harder it is for her and for everyone else, because she has to divide her attention by necessity," said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Polities, a former press secretary to Governor James McGreevey and a former communications director for the DOT. "She's got to be working around the clock. both jobs require immense preparation to make the level of decisions that she's making.

Chief of staff is 'shadow governor'

..... As commissioner, Gutierrez-Scaccetti oversees the department while chairing four transportation-related boards and serving as vice chair of the state Motor Vehicle Commission.
..... A governor's chief of staff, Rasmussen said, is a "shadow governor," the person who "makes state government run" by ensuring that the governor's goals, agenda and vision are executed form the executive branch across every department, agency and quasi-governmental entity, which includes more than 137,000 employees in New Jersey.
..... "I can't recall a time where someone had any two jobs of this magnitude at the same time," Rasmussen said. "The part that's not unusual is feeling you way through these transitions. What is unusual is that this has not already been worked out."
..... State Senator Teresa Ruiz, D-Newark, said Gutierrez-Scaccetti has not shown any sings of being overwhelmed by the two roles.
..... Both in her capacity as commissioner of the department and now currently as chief of staff, there has never been an issue that I've put before her that hasn't been thoughtfully completed to its end," Ruiz said, mentioning that in recent months she has received attention form the DOT to address an exit near a ;local school and a guardrail near a park.
..... "As chief of staff, it's thinking ahead about budget and policy and working on issues," Ruiz said.

Too many balls in the air?

..... When Gutierrez-Scaccetti left the agency boards she oversaw in December, [2023 she also left some unfinished business.
.... Just weeks after she began as chief of staff, Murphy vetoed the turnpike's budget that had just received unanimous approval from the board - a budget that included 3% toll hikes. Murphy said at the time that he "needed more information" about the increases, even through his administration" about the annual toll hikes in 2020 without communicating to the public how the new toll "index" worked.
..... The turnpike board did not approve a new budget at its December [2023] meeting, nor was it mentioned.
..... Meanwhile, Gutierrez-Scaccetti spearheaded a "restructuring" initiative at NJ Transit in April [2023] to find cost-cutting opportunities before the budget season - yet there is nothing to show for that effort as the agency prepares for a $120 million shortfall in the budget year that starts July 1. [2023]
..... A nearly $1 billion deficit is expected a year later.
..... Daniel Cassino, a professor of government an politics and executive director off the Fairleigh Dickinson University poll, said the question the governor should be weighing is whether both jobs are being done well."
..... "Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti is certainly a very capable administrator, but I think it's reasonable to ask if she's being asked to do too many things at once," Cassino said.

Mixed reviews on the transition

..... Several large initiatives targeted to get done during lame duck, the time after November's [2023] election and before the next legislative session - about November 8 [2023] to January 9 [2024] - did not get passed. They included bills on affordable housing, renewing the Transportation Trust fund, public records laws and banning smoking in casinos, all of which could still get done in the next session.
..... The Legislature did pass a bill to give its members and other public officials pay raises, including Cabinet members like Gutierrez-Scaccetti; one bill changed liquor license regulations, but was not the full overhaul Murphy laid out a year ago in his 2022 State of the State.
..... One of the roles for the chief of staff traditionally "has been to work with the Legislature, and given the size of the democratic majority in Trenton, the number of bills that the governor wound up pocket-vetoing at the end of the sessions makes it look like there was a breakdown somewhere," Cassino said.
..... But this did not all fall on Gutierrez-Scaccetti, said state Senator Joe Cryan, D-Union.
..... "The bigger issues, tougher issues, didn't make it to the table," Cryan said. "Collectively, we didn't get enough done."
..... State Senator Declan O'Scanlon, R-Monmouth, had no criticism for Gutierrez-Scaccetti's performance so far in both roles but is worried about how taxing doing both jobs can be.
..... "She's a very competent person, so far, and I've dealt with her on chief of staff issues and on DOT issues during the time she's been wearing both hats and she's been responsive, and I'm appreciative of that," O'Scanion said.
..... "Long-term, they're both big jobs. Provided we can find someone as competent as she is, having two people handling those jobs is probably better for New Jersey and probably better for her mental and physical health, because they're two high-stress jobs." O'Scanlon said. "Right now, I think she's handling them well, and I applaud her for that."
..... Not all have said it has been a smooth transition.
..... Gutierez-Scaccetti and Parimal Garg, Murphy's chief counsel, have "butted heads," according to reporting by Politico, which also questioned her future in the role.
..... Cryan, on the other hand, said she brings another level of professionalism and more than 30 years of experience in state government to the executive branch.
..... "She brings a vast level of experience and commitment to collaboration that I hope is successful for both her and the governor and the state," he said.

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