Senate President Nicholas Scutari is shuffling some committee chairmanships and leadership positions after Nellie Pou resigned from the upper house to take her seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, with Joseph Lagana, Troy Singleton, Vin Gopal, Raj Mukherji, Gordon Johnson, and Renee Burgess receiving new assignments.
Lagana (D-Paramus) will take Pou’s seat as chairman of the Commerce Committee. Scutari has selected Johnson (D-Englewood) to replace Lagana as the Labor Committee chairman, and has tapped Mukherji (D-Jersey City) to fill the Military and Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairmanship previously held by Johnson. Mukherji is a U.S. Marine veteran who enlisted after 9/11.
Singleton (D-Delran) will take Pou’s post as Majority Caucus Chairman, and Gopal (D-Long Branch) will replace Singleton as the Senate Majority Whip.
This elevates Gopal to the “Big Six,” and puts him at the table with Scutari, Majority Leader Theresa Ruiz (D-Newark), Deputy Majority Leader Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge), Senate President Pro-Tempore Shirley Turner (D-Lawrence) and Singleton. Those six senators approve committee agendas and board list.
State Sen. Jim Beach (D-Voorhees) is expected to get Gopal’s post as Democratic Conference Chairman.
State Sen. Renee Burgess (D-Irvington) will get Pou’s seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Ruiz has already succeeded Pou as chair of the Legislative Hispanic Caucus.
Lagana said that as Commerce Committee chairman, he will work to
Together, we can build a stronger, more inclusive economy that benefits every resident and share in the prosperity we are building here in New Jersey.”
