Son of Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo lands $92K job on N.J. payroll

By Matt Friedman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

TRENTON — The son of a key Democratic ally of Gov. Chris Christie is now on the state’s payroll.

Joseph G. DiVincenzo — whose father is Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo — was hired in July as an “education program development specialist” by the New Jersey Department of Education at a salary of $92,528.

Rosemarie Cipparulo, a labor lawyer and professor of at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, said that’s far from typical for a new employee.

“This is the type of job in the Department of Education that people generally get promoted into. I think it is highly unusual that somebody from the outside would be hired into the highest level of this title,” Cipparulo said.

Cipparulo often represents the Communications Workers of America, one of New Jersey’s largest public employee unions, which has fought with DiVincenzo’s father but also oversees the bargaining unit for his new job. The union’s New Jersey director, Hetty Rosenstein, who locked horns with Christie, was less diplomatic, saying she believes “he got it through political connections.”

More>>