New Jessey Governor Chris Christie nominated 2 to state Supreme Court. New Jersey Supreme Court could see the first Asian-American on the state’s highest court if confirmed by the state Senate. Both men have already been confirmed once by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
David Bauman 56, of Holmdel, who was born in Japan and immigrated to the United States at age 3, is the presiding judge for the civil division of the Superior Court in Monmouth County. He is the son of a Japanese mother and an American father of German and Irish heritage who was serving in the U.S. Navy.
Robert Hanna, 54, of Madison. Now, the president of the Board of Public Utilities that oversees the state’s regulated utilities, were nominated to fill two vacancies on the seven-member court that could be called on to decide such weighty cases as public school funding and gay marriage.
Christie said,
I’ve got lots of Democrats in my administration as well, and they don’t automatically because Republicans just because I nominate them to something. And I worked with a lot of people in the U.S. Attorney’s Office who were both Republicans, Democrats and independents. If you talk to anybody in the United States Attorney’s Office who served at the same time Bob and I did — in fact, I spoke to one of them this morning who told me there was no one in his experience that relished disagreeing with me more than Bob Hanna. He has kept that personality streak through the last three years. You are what you say you are, not what other people say you are.”
Sidewalks Chalk 
Christie tried to nominate last year and was rejected.
NJ Democrats Reject Gay Black Christie Supreme Court Nominee Bruce Harris
New Jersey Democrats have rejected Chris Christie’s nomination of out gay Black Supreme Court nominee Bruce Harris by a vote of 7-6 following a four hour hearing, the AP reports:
HarrisIt’s the same margin by which another Christie nominee, First Assistant Attorney General Phillip Kwon, was voted down two months ago.
The Star-Ledger says Harris’ rejection was an easy one, given his lack of experience and the possibility of bias on same-sex marriage:
It is a mystery why the New Jersey Bar Association rated Harris as qualified. The governor said he would have agreed to waive confidentiality and allow the bar to testify, but he didn’t ask for that, which suggests he had little confidence the bar could have built a strong case.
http://www.towleroad.com/2012/06/harrischristie.html
Christie wants to raise electric rates in NJ. Now he has his buddy up for nomination. Politics as usual in New Jersey,
Hanna, a 54-year-old independent, worked for Christie at the U.S. Attorney’s Office and as head of the Division of Law in the Attorney General’s Office before being named to run the BPU a year ago.
Christie has known Hanna for a decade, and said Hanna is independent-minded.
Christie said he spoke to a former U.S. Attorney’s Office colleague of his and Hanna’s Monday morning, “who told me there was no one in his experience who relished disagreeing with me more than Bob Hanna. He has kept that personality streak through the last three years.”
http://www.njbiz.com/article/20121210/NJBIZ01/121219984/Christie-nominates-BPU-chief-and-Monmouth-County-judge-to-Supreme-Court