Jeffrey Chiesa

Jeffrey Scott Chiesa (pronounced Key-AY-zuh; born June 22, 1965) is the junior U.S. Senator from New Jersey and the former state attorney general of New Jersey. Governor Chris Christie announced on June 6, 2013 that he would appoint Chiesa to the United States Senate seat that was vacated by the death of Frank Lautenberg. On June 10, 2013, Chiesa was sworn in as a Senator. Previously, Chiesa was sworn in as attorney general on January 10, 2012. Prior to that appointment, he served as Chief Counsel to Governor Christie. He has declined to run for the remainder of the senate term in the 2013 Special Election.

Early life, education, and early law career
Chiesa grew up in Bound Brook, New Jersey, the eldest of three children. When he was 8 years old, his father, a chemical plant worker, died, and he was raised by his mother, a public school teacher. He graduated from University of Notre Dame in 1987 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting. He earned his J.D. from the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America in 1990. In 1988, Chiesa joined the Cranford law firm of Dughi, Hewit & Palatucci (now known as Dughi & Hewit). There he met Chris Christie, who had joined the firm the year before.

U.S. Attorney's Office
In 2002, he followed Christie to the office of the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, where he led a number of the office's high-profile public corruption cases, including the one against former State Senate President John A. Lynch, Jr. He served as Counsel to the U.S. Attorney, Chief of the Public Protection Unit, and Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney. He left in 2009 to become a partner in the firm of Wolf & Samson.

Chief Counsel to Governor Christie
In 2009, after Christie was elected Governor of New Jersey, Chiesa headed his transition team. Christie then named Chiesa his chief counsel. In June 2010, he sent him to speak to Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll to persuade him to drop his opposition to the budget because it cuts more suburban school aid than urban ones.

Attorney General of New Jersey
On December 12, 2011, Governor Christie nominated Chiesa to succeed Paula Dow as Attorney General. Chiesa was sworn in as Dow's successor on January 10, 2012.

He supported mandatory drug rehab treatment for non-violent drug offenders and holding violent defendants without bail.

In January 2012, he proposed a comprehensive program to crack down on prescription drug abuse addictions and overdoses.

In February 2012, he helped deliver $837.7 million to distressed homeowners of New Jersey from a settlement with major banks. The state had 10.6% of homeowners who are 90 or more days delinquent on their mortgage, the third highest percentage in the nation at the time.

In April 2012, he announced the arrest of three men accused of theft at several Home Depot stores across five states: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and New York. They were "under-ringing" their purchases at self-checkout machines and were charged with more than 500 illegal transactions totaling more than $100,000. In the same month, he announced the arrests of 27 people in a major child pornography incident, that required the involvement of more than 100 law enforcement officers for "Operation Watchdog." He also filed a lawsuit against John Kot and Gabriel R. DaSilva of leading home improvement companies for defrauding people and breaking several laws.

U.S. Senate
On June 6, 2013, Governor Chris Christie announced that he would appoint Chiesa, a resident of Branchburg, New Jersey, to succeed recently deceased United States Senator Frank Lautenberg. Chiesa announced that he would not seek election to the seat in the 2013 special election. In the news conference, he said that "I'm a conservative Republican, generally speaking." In regard to immigration reform, he stated, "I think the first thing we have to do is make sure the borders are secure."

Chiesa resigned as Attorney General on June 6, 2013, and Executive Assistant Attorney General John Jay Hoffman became acting Attorney General. Chiesa was sworn into the Senate on June 10, 2013 by Vice President Joe Biden. Chiesa became the first Republican senator to represent New Jersey since 1982 when then-Governor Thomas Kean appointed Nicholas Brady to the Senate in order to fill a vacancy. When his successor is elected, Chiesa will have recorded the fourth shortest tenure of the 65 U.S. Senators to serve in New Jersey history.

Committee assignments
Chiesa serves on the following committees:
 * Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
 * Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
 * Committee on Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

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