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Christie's nominee to head Labor Dept. seems in trouble

TRENTON - The Senate Judiciary Committee declined to vote yesterday on Gov. Christie's choice to head the Labor Department after grilling the nominee for more than an hour over his qualifications.

TRENTON - The Senate Judiciary Committee declined to vote yesterday on Gov. Christie's choice to head the Labor Department after grilling the nominee for more than an hour over his qualifications.

Committee Chairman Nicholas Scutari said there were serious concerns that Hal Wirths would have been voted down.

"A number of us are concerned he may not have the requisite qualifications he needs to be the head of the Labor Department of the State of New Jersey," said Scutari (D., Linden). "I'm not certain he knows what he's getting into and knows what he's going to be doing when he gets there."

The senator said the governor's office asked the committee to adjourn without taking a vote, rather than vote down Wirths' nomination. The next Judiciary Committee meeting is scheduled for May.

Christie spokeswoman Maria Comella declined to say whether the administration had asked for a vote postponement, but said, "We remain hopeful he will be confirmed."

Wirths is a Sussex County freeholder. For 18 years he owned and managed two furniture stores.

"I truly understand how much government can impact small businesses and I want to be part of the solution," Wirths told the committee.

He sold the business in 2004 and went on to help start the Highlands State Bank, a community bank, where he still sits on two committees.

Wirths has an associate degree from Upsala College in East Orange, which closed in 1995. He has been a freeholder since 2000.

"He's a small-business owner and a freeholder. Does that make the person have qualifications? I'm not certain and I don't think the committee is convinced of that today," Scutari said.

When Christie nominated Wirths, he touted his successful small-business background, the facts that Wirths oversaw a $100 million budget as a freeholder and that he helped negotiate labor agreements with public employee unions and Sussex County government.

Wirths' immediate predecessor, David Socolow, went to Harvard, worked in the U.S. Labor Department under Bill Clinton and spent four years running the unemployment division in the New Jersey Department of Labor.

The first question asked of Wirths was to respond to those who say he's not qualified for the job.

"I say to those people, try operating and running a successful business for 18 years," Wirths said, adding that in his seven weeks as acting commissioner "the building hasn't blown up. It's still running."

Democratic Sen. Paul Sarlo asked Wirths whether he had interviewed to become the secretary of agriculture to replace Doug Fisher. Sarlo said the administration told Democratic leaders that they were considering Wirths for the post until they realized that the Bureau of Agriculture officially appoints the secretary.

Wirths danced around the subject, saying that he never asked to be agriculture secretary but may have been considered. Wirths served on Christie's transition team for agriculture.

As a business owner, Wirths said, he had five employees. As acting labor commissioner, he oversees 3,400.

Wirths was asked about his opinion on getting rid of blue laws in Bergen County, which require businesses to close on Sunday. He said he hadn't given it much thought.

He was also asked about whether the state's minimum wage should be increased and said that he thinks raising any expenses for businesses right now would be a bad idea.

Wirths said he supports the governor's proposal to reduce unemployment benefits to help slow a tax increase on businesses that will kick in at the end of the month.

Under Christie's proposal, the state would reduce the maximum weekly benefit for newly unemployed residents from $600 to $550. The governor also wants to require a one-week waiting period before benefits can be received and would require employees fired for "misconduct" to find other work for a prescribed period before becoming qualified again for unemployment benefits.

Employers were set to see a steep increase in their unemployment tax starting July 1 because the state's unemployment fund ran out of money and has been borrowing from the federal government.

As labor commissioner, Wirths would oversee unemployment benefits.

Sen. Gerald Cardinale, (R., Cresskill) asked Wirths if he had looked at the qualifications of his predecessors.

Wirths said he had spoken with several former commissioners, including Socolow, and they told him to be himself and to be fair.

"I think it went well," Wirths said after the hearing. "I give it my best. I do what I do," he said. "They are the guys who have the votes, so that's it."

Lori Grifa's nomination to head the Department of Community Affairs, which oversees the Council on Affordable Housing, was supposed to be considered on yesterday, but will be pushed back to May.