Senate President Threatens Rutgers With Lawsuit Over Governor's Appointment

A New Brunswick attorney who was to be sworn in as a member of the Rutgers University Board of Governors on Thursday said he learned while on his way to the meeting he wouldn't be sworn in.

"I received a call from the attorney and he said I wouldn't be sworn in because they received a threat of legal action," said Martin Perez, who also serves as president of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey. "They said the Senate president would take legal action to invalidate all actions taken at the meeting if I was sworn in."

According to New Brunswick Today, State Senate President Steve Sweeney threatened Rutgers University with a lawsuit should Perez be sworn in.

Perez said he was told earlier that it was a possibility, and received a second call a half hour before the meeting informing him he would not be sworn in.

Sweeney initially objected to Perez's appointment by Gov. Chris Christie in December. Sweeney felt the governor was sidestepping the Senate at that time, as it was holding up the appointment Christie made 18 months earlier, according to The Politicker. 

“Legal issues were raised yesterday, and there wasn’t sufficient time to sort through them in time for the Board meeting,” Rutgers spokesperson Greg Trevor said Friday.  “We look forward to Martin Perez joining the Board in the near future.”

Attempts to reach Sweeney for comment on Friday were unsuccessful.

Attempts to reach Christie for comment on Friday were unsuccessful.

"I was already appointed by the governor," Perez said. "I don't understand how they can not swear me in."

Perez requested a letter from the university clarifying the situation. It was unclear to him what the next step would be.

“I deserve an explanation,” Perez said.

Christie made the appointment as one of his two new appointments to the Board alloted him by the Higher Education Restructuring Act, which also merged seven of the University of Medicine and Dentistry New Jersey's (UMDNJ) schools with Rutgers. 

The Board of Governors is selected in part by the Governor and in part by the Board of Trustees, a University governing body Sweeney has proposed eliminating.