A commuter advocate who was nominated to NJ Transit’s board of directors has been denied a seat just as a Senate committee was poised to vote on it.
Gov. Phil Murphy inexplicably pulled his nominations late Friday of Janna Chernetz, Tri-State Transportation Campaign deputy director and Michael Beson, a Monmouth County businessman who was his first pick for the transit board in March 2019.
Murphy gave no reason for the withdrawals in a terse, one sentence letter sent Friday afternoon to Senate President Steve Sweeney. Both Beson and Chernetz had been interviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was poised to act on their nominations Monday. The state Senate could have voted as early as Thursday if that happened.
State Senate Majority leader Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen publicly expressed her disappointment with the action and a process that she said has deprived commuters of board members to represent them.
“There is no reason why her (Chernetz) nomination shouldn’t move ahead today,” Weinberg said in an interview with NJ Advance Media Monday. “She knows more than some of the (NJ Transit) senior management. She has been immersed in these issues for a long time.”
Chernetz has been with Tri-State since 2011 as New Jersey Policy director, working on issues about renewing the state transportation trust fund, NJ Transit funding and over-reliance of using funds for major projects to pay operating expenses, how to reform local bus service and bike and pedestrian safety and other issues.
The problem was with Beson’s nomination, because he wasn’t a regular bus rider, Weinberg said. In April 2019, a governor’s spokesman identified Beson as a North Jersey Coast Line rail rider to NJ Advance Media.
Then nominee and current board member James D. Adams was identified as a bus and train rider for almost three years on the 21, 71 and 73 bus routes to Newark Penn and on the NEC to Trenton, a governors’ spokesman said in April 2019. Adams was confirmed this year.
“Adams could be construed as being the bus rider.” Weinberg said. “They should have checked it out much earlier.”
Officials from the governor’s office told Weinberg the two nominations have to move together but did not give a reason for that, she said.
Murphy said he had “no insights” into the specifics of why the nominations were pulled, during his Monday press briefing.
“This stuff happens all the time. We put people up, we pull back. There is no juicy back story,” Murphy said. “We want a full board…we want it properly represented whether it’s advocates, bus or train riders. I’d hope we get some folks nominated sooner rather than later.”
Advocates from other commuter groups complained last year that they were shut out of the process after applying to join the board.
A larger 13-member board, that required members who ride NJ Transit, came from reform legislation signed by Murphy in Dec. 2018, that was the result of work done by a Joint Legislative Oversight Committee.
The committee investigated the agency after the Sept. 29, 2016 crash of a commuter train into Hoboken Terminal that killed a woman walking in the concourse and injured 100 others. Weinberg was a member of that committee.
In addition to having rider representatives on the board, the committee also wanted members who would ask more pointed questions, especially during public meetings, that would require answers and provide more transparency.
“The Governor made a commitment to straighten the agency out if kills him. They’ve dragged their feet,” Weinberg said. “This board was created by the legislature and done so we’d have an appropriate, experienced, accountable, transparent group running NJ Transit.”
At the end of the judiciary committee’s meeting, Weinberg expressed her frustration.
“I want to express my disappointment in the governor’s office. We’ve been waiting too many months to get these nominees through to run NJ Transit,” she said. “This puts a big roadblock in moving that board forward.”
Committee chairman and Senator Nicolas Scutari, D-Union, said he was impressed after video interviews with Chernetz and Beson.
“I felt they were very good nominations. I felt both were dedicated to it. Ms. Chernetz has made a career of transportation,” he told the committee.
The next move is up to the governor and Weinberg said she would like to see Chernetz re-nominated and a woman nominated to represent bus riders.
But that isn’t the only roadblock to a fully functioning board.
Board member and former state senator Robert Gordon is in legislative limbo, unable to vote until a 1911 state law is amended. That law bars Board of Public Utilities members from serving on other state boards. A bill that would exempt unpaid BPU commissioners such as Gordon from that requirement is scheduled for a state senate vote on Thursday.
Gordon has been participating in NJ Transit board meetings and discussions but is unable to vote until that change is made.
“It’s taken six months if not longer to get two of the most talented and experienced members on to the board,” Weinberg said.
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Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com.
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