Longport woman picked for Christie’s transition team

Nov, 11-2009 6:10 pm

By SUZANNE MARINO
Staff Writer

LONGPORT – Deborah DiLorenzo of Longport, the president and chief executive officer of the Chamber of Commerce of Southern New Jersey, was tapped Tuesday, Nov. 10 to be a member of governor-elect Chris Christie’s 10-person transition team.

DiLorenzo said Wednesday that she did not even have an inkling that she was going to be asked to join the bipartisan New Jersey Leadership Team.

“I am very flattered to be invited to be a member of the team,” she said. I am really thrilled to be representing our members and our region.”

She said she would be bringing with her the chamber’s 100 Recommendations to Cut State Spending and estimated that its proposals could save New Jersey taxpayers $1 billion. She said she would be taking the concerns of this part of the state with her to the transition team, and that includes the interests of the Atlantic City gaming industry and the chamber’s opposition to gambling elsewhere in the state.

The Chamber of Commerce hosted Christie when he was the state attorney general.

DiLorenzo, who said she would be interested in serving any governor, said Christie will be good for New Jersey.

“I am encouraged by the bipartisan composition of Christie’s team. I think it shows a real spirit of cooperation,” she said.

Other members of the transition team are former attorney general David Samson; Susan A. Cole, president of Montclair State University; state Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham, a Democrat from Jersey City; political strategist Michael DuHaime; George Gilmore, chairman of the Ocean County Republicans; John Hanson of Morristown-based Hampshire Real Estate; Alfred Koeppe, the former president of Public Service Electric and Gas; state Sen. Joseph Kryllos Jr. of Middletown; and Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac.

In announcing the selections in a statement released Tuesday, Nov. 10, Christie said the transition team’s bipartisan cooperation would set the tone for the rest of his administration.




Deborah DiLorenzo of Longport is the only member of Governor-elect Chris Christie’s transition team who is from southern New Jersey. -->