Carroll Discusses Nomination for Judgeship

Longtime Morris County Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll, R-25^th, is in line to become a Superior Court judge in Morristown.

Last week, Gov. Chris Christie announced his intention to nominate Carroll, 52, to the bench. The Morris Township resident has served in the state Assembly since 1996. Carroll defeated then-Morris County Freeholder Christie in the GOP primary to get on the November ballot, then handily won the Republican-dominated district that encompasses the heart of Morris County.

“I guess he owes his job to me,” Carroll quipped about Christie’s later rise to the position of U.S. Attorney for New Jersey and then the governor’s office.

Carroll has been called the state’s most conservative legislator. He supports limited government and is a staunch opponent of abortion. During his time in Trenton, he also has voted against nearly every state budget and was among the last Republicans to endorse Christie’s first state budget last year.

An attorney in private practice, Carroll said he likes the practice of law and has aspired to a judgeship.
”I’ve been open about it for the last 15 years,” he said.

Once Carroll’s nomination is officially submitted, the state Senate would have to vote to confirm him. While legislators typically look kindly on their own for such positions, Carroll said he is not sure how he will be treated by the New Jersey Bar Association. The state’s lawyers group has a committee that reviews prospective judges and county prosecutors and then makes recommendations to the governor about the candidates’ fitness for office.

Kevin Roberts, a spokesman for Christie, declined to discuss the nomination, except to say, “Our office has begun the nomination process by filing a notice of intention to nominate – it is not yet a formal nomination.”

Lew Candura, chairman of the Morris County Democratic Committee, said Christie may be nominating Carroll because the assemblyman had been critical of the governor’s budget last year, although he did vote for it.

“This could be a way for him to get the budget approved a little easier,” said Candura.

Carroll said that’s not the case, adding he voted last week to sustain all of the governor’s vetoes of bills Democrats said would have created jobs.

Candura praised Carroll but said he’s not sure he is the best man for a judgeship.

“I think he’s an extremely intelligent man; I think he’s an honest man,” Candura said. “He does come off sometimes as a bit hot-headed. As a judge, you are supposed to have a judicial temperament.”

Acknowledging his strong beliefs on some issues, Carroll said that as a judge, he would be charged with applying the law as it exists, not changing it, and that he has more power now to change the law as an assemblyman.

Until his confirmation, Carroll said he remains focused on seeking re-election, although the geography of the new legislative districts is still unknown.

A co-sponsor of the state’s medical marijuana law, Carroll cited his efforts to defeat an increase in the state’s gas tax as among his greatest legislative accomplishments, although that is not necessarily how he views his legacy.

“I would like to be known less as someone who drafted laws that wound up between green-bound volumes than as someone who had the respect of my colleagues for being thoughtful,” he said.

Carroll also said he was one of the few legislators seeking changes in the state’s pension system more than a decade ago, when the extent of its unfunded liability was first publicized and much smaller than it is today.

“(Assemblyman) Rick (Merkt, R-25^th) and I were the lonely voices saying, ‘We’ve got to change what we’re doing,” and suggesting we switch to defined contribution plans.”

Carroll is currently sponsoring 75 bills, including ones that would ban public employees from earning more than the governor, prohibit colleges from enrolling illegal aliens, require a two-thirds majority vote in each house to increase or enact a new state tax and replace lifetime tenure for state Supreme Court justices with retention elections.

Born in North Carolina, Carroll settled in Morris County in 1960. He got his bachelor’s degree in history/political science from Johns Hopkins University and his law degree from Rutgers University in Newark.

Interested in politics since he volunteered for President Richard Nixon’s re-election campaign in 1972, Carroll has interned for former U.S. Rep. Jack Kemp, R-NY, worked for the New Jersey Republican State Committee and served as an aide to former state Sen. John Dorsey, R-25th.

Carroll currently sits on the Assembly’s Housing and Local Government and Judiciary committees. He and his wife Sharon have six children ranging in age from 16 to 27.

Candura said that if Carroll is confirmed to the bench, that could give a Democrat a better chance to take his seat, particularly if a state commission redraws the legislative district boundaries to make Carroll’s current district more competitive for Democrats.

“It certainly gives you an edge any time you are running for an open seat,” said Candura. “If they carve out with redistricting to make it more Democratic and less Republican, you never know what could happen.”