>Former New York finance chief made NJ state treasurer
By Daniela Quintanilla
Governor-elect Christopher Christie today introduced Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff, a former Republican New York City councilman and finance commissioner, as his nominee to be the next state treasurer. If confirmed by the state senate, Eristoff will take the helm of the Department of Treasury in the face of a budget deficit that is expected to be anywhere from $6 to $10 billion. “The way that we’ve been going for the last decade or more has proven to be a failure,” said Christie while introducing Eristoff at Seton Hall Law School. Eristoff, 46, lives in Manhattan but said that he plans to move his family to New Jersey.
He kept his remarks brief and made a request to reporters to go easy on him for today. “I would ask that before you attempt to stump me with arcane financial questions, that you allow me just a few hours, if not days, to be fully briefed up on the minutiae of New Jersey’s current circumstances,” said Eristoff, a city councilman from 1992 to 1999. He was New York City Commissioner of Finance under Mayor Rudy Giuliani, from 1999 to 2002, and Commissioner of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance under Gov. George Pataki from 2003 to 2006.
Eristoff did say that he was looking to institute a “fundamental restructuring and reform of New Jersey’s state finances” and that the job gave him “an incredible opportunity to serve at the front lines of what I believe will be a nationally significant movement to restructure state government as we know it.”… (Friedman, PolitickerNJ)
