Gov. Phil Murphy is demanding authorities statewide to turn over information on hiring practices, raising the possibility of laying bare years of favoritism, patronage and nepotism in government work, according to a letter obtained by NorthJersey.com and the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey.

The letter was sent Friday to "all state authorities," which includes about 50 independent state and bi-state agencies, commissions and corporations. It does not cover recent hires in the executive branch of state government, employees under direct control of Murphy or his appointees.

The hiring review comes several days after the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey detailed a restructuring at the Schools Development Authority, where longtime employees were fired and replaced by people connected to Chief Executive Officer Lizette Delgado-Polanco and in some instances have questionable experience.

In response, Murphy said that his administration "had already been ahead of the story trying to figure out what has gone on there." But Friday's letter is the first known instance of his administration taking action, as a high-ranking administration official said in an interview, "to determine if this is a state problem."

In the letter, written by Deputy Chief Counsel for Authorities Brian Wilton, the governor's office gave the authorities until March 15 to provide details on hiring. And that request is taking a broad view.

The office requested lists of all names of people who were hired and promoted at authorities the last three years, which would capture such employees of the last two years of the Christie administration. Authorities must also provide lists and details of all employees who have relatives working "in any department, office, authority, or instrumentality" of the state.

"As you may be aware there have been recent allegations of improper hiring and promotional practices within New Jersey government," the letter said. The lists were requested, it went on, "so that we may work together to identify opportunities to improve the hiring and promotional processes within these units."

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Political patronage is a longtime practice in New Jersey. Working in state government provides some job security, typically at a high-paying salary, and allows those select hires to enroll in the state pension system.

The state does not bar relatives from working in state government, and it's somewhat common. In Murphy's office, for example, Wilton's predecessor as authorities deputy was Mary Maples, who is married to homeland security director Jared Maples. She left the administration last year.

The state has strict nepotism rules that outline how to deal with relatives of public and elected officials working in government. But with dozens of independent state agencies and little-known authorities, it's often unnoticeable if, for example, a lawmaker's friend or relative gets a job that may not violate nepotism rules but still appears as a patronage hire.

At the schools authority, more than a dozen longtime employees were fired and replaced with about three dozen people. Many of them worked with or are connected to Delgado-Polanco and her family. Her daughter also works in the governor's office and her husband was recently hired in the Department of Education.

Delgado-Polanco filled out two ethics recusal forms for people close or related to her at the authority, and she is not accused of violating nepotism regulations.

Many of the former authority workers claim that the restructuring was really an opportunity for Delgado-Polanco, who is also the vice chairwoman of the Democratic State Committee, to install political and family connections at the agency responsible for building schools in the state's poorest areas.

The authority has refuted those accusations and said the new employees — most of whom have no experience in schools or construction — are "highly qualified" for their positions.

The USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey report drew prompt demands for action. Senate President Stephen Sweeney, the top Democrat in the Legislature, said the schools authority should be abolished, while some lawmakers on a special committee investigating Murphy's hiring practices called for the panel to look into the authority's restructuring.

Other lawmakers have demanded Murphy provide the public with a full accounting of the restructuring by releasing names of the fired employees to compare them against the new hires.

“It is important for the public to know the depth of the patronage that occurred within the SDA,” Assemblyman Jon Bramnick, of Union County and the Republican minority leader, said in a statement Friday. “Governor Murphy needs to respond and the public deserves the truth.”

Murphy's own hiring practices have been under scrutiny for several months, beginning with the hiring by the education department of Marcellus Jackson, who was prohibited from state employment because he had been convicted of public corruption. He resigned last year.

Lawmakers on the special committee have mostly focused their attention on the authority's hiring of Al Alvarez — before Delgado-Polanco became CEO — as chief of staff after he had been accused of sexual assault. After two months of hearings, no one has been able to answer how Alvarez got that high-ranking job and kept it for months after officials had known about the allegation, which he has denied.

By demanding that all authorities provide hiring information going back three years, Murphy is casting a wide net that could also pull up names of people connected to other public officials.

The last time patronage came to the forefront of state politics was during Christie's tenure. In 2012, NorthJersey.com detailed 50 patronage hires at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey after a former employee filed a wrongful termination lawsuit in federal court.