Salvador Rizzo

@rizzoTK

New Jersey’s largest police union is urging state senators to vote down Governor Christie’s nominee for Monmouth County prosecutor, one of the top law enforcement jobs in the state.

The nominee, Christopher Gramiccioni, is a former assistant U.S. attorney and Navy lieutenant who became acting prosecutor for Monmouth County in 2012. He is scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday for a hearing on his nomination to a full, five-year term.

“His lack of experience and his obvious disdain for our members should not be rewarded with a full term in office,” Patrick Colligan, president of the state Policemen’s Benevolent Association, wrote in a letter to state senators on behalf of 33,000 union members.

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The police union’s five-page letter, which was obtained by The Record, levels a series of allegations of mismanagement and “union busting.” Colligan wrote that Gramiccioni has promoted personal friends over more experienced law enforcement officers, hired several detectives with no law enforcement experience, and discriminated against female, black or gay staff members up for promotions, triggering lawsuits and other complaints. Out of 50 attorneys in Gramiccioni’s office, only one is black, Colligan noted.

“While I respect the office of county prosecutor and understand that they have certain managerial rights, I am seriously concerned that Acting Prosecutor Gramiccioni’s actions are harmful to his detectives and intentionally aggressive to the PBA,” Colligan wrote.

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Charles Webster, a spokesman for the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, said Tuesday that “Prosecutor Gramiccioni will respond to any questions from the Judiciary Committee on Thursday.”

In a statement from his office, Christie stood behind the nomination. "The governor supports Prosecutor Gramiccioni and the outstanding work he has done on behalf of the people of Monmouth County."

Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said the police union “certainly raised enough questions for us to be asking Mr. Gramiccioni.”

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The PBA is one of the most influential labor unions in New Jersey, especially with the Democrats who control the Legislature, and it rarely opposes nominees in such strong terms. Christie and the Senate have fought over scores of nominations over the years, and some have been rejected, making it conceivable that senators could vote down Gramiccioni on Thursday.

But the governor said earlier this year that he would only nominate top officials if he had assurances from Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, that they would be approved.

“The Senate president said that the only thing he promised was a hearing,” Weinberg said of Gramiccioni’s nomination.

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Gramiccioni is married to Deborah Gramiccioni. Both worked for Christie at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark, and she rose to become one of the governor’s closest aides. Christie has nominated Deborah Gramiccioni to the state Superior Court. Her nomination is pending in the Senate.

Records show that Christopher Gramiccioni donated $500 to Christie’s first campaign for governor in 2009. His father donated $1,500 to Christie’s failed presidential campaign.

Colligan also accused Gramiccioni of holding an “anti-union stance,” citing a series of instances of officers being intimidated or threatened with dismissals or pay cuts.

And in some of the sharpest accusations in the letter, Colligan laid out what he described as potential conflicts of interest for the prosecutor. Gramiccioni was appealing the property tax bill on his home at a time when his office was investigating the Monmouth County Assessment Demonstration Program, according to the letter. He did not identify himself as the county prosecutor when officials showed up at his home for his tax appeal, Colligan wrote.

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Even though the state attorney general’s office limits which law enforcement officials are allowed to drive police cars and activate the lights and sirens, Gramiccioni has bent those rules several times, Colligan charged.

“The prosecutor himself was involved in a motor vehicle accident while personally operating a police car with lights and sirens and he has been observed multiple times using a police vehicle outside of the AG rules,” he wrote.

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Salvador Rizzo: rizzo@northjersey.com