Marc-Philip Ferzan is an attorney, currently serving as Senior Managing Director at Ankura Consulting Group. He was formerly the director of the Governor's Office of Recovery and Rebuilding (where he was nicknamed the "Storm Czar"), from November 2012 until resigning in July 2014. [1] The position was created by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie after Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 to coordinate relief and recovery efforts in face of the effects of the storm on the state. After resigning, he became lecturer at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia.
Ferzan received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1989 from Rutgers University, and his J.D. degree from Fordham University School of Law in 1992. He held several positions at the Office of United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, including Chief of the Commercial Crimes Unit, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division, and Acting Deputy and Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney. [2] Ferzan was Managing Director at Pricewaterhouse Coopers Advisory, working in the firm's investigative consulting practice. From January 2010 to June 2012, he served at the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General as Executive Assistant Attorney General. [3]
On Monday, October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused unprecedented damage to New Jersey's housing, business, infrastructure, health, social service and environmental sectors. Ferzan was appointed by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on November 28, 2012, to coordinate recovery efforts, a role dubbed "storm czar", and charged with overseeing billions of dollars of relief aid [3] [4] [5] in conjunction with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, the lead agency for distributing the funding.
Ferzan announced the release of Sandy recovery funding in phases, first in April 2013 and then in February 2014. [6] [7] [8]
Ferzan was responsible for creating numerous relief programs. The Star-Ledger characterized Ferzan's one and half year term as "tumultuous" and he himself as being too low-profile. [9] The newspaper and the Press of Atlantic City criticized Ferzan for his lack of attendance at New Jersey Legislative meetings convened regarding Sandy recovery. [10] When questioned about the state's decision-making process, Ferzan said officials were trying to balance transparency and not giving out "too much information." [11]
Initially, disparities in distribution of housing construction funds for affordable housing came under scrutiny when it was revealed that areas least impacted by hurricane were receiving funds in greater proportion than heavily hit areas with the suggestion that towns with mayors friendly to Christie were favored. [12] [13] Ferzan said it was "unfathomable" that disaster aid programs could be used for political gain and that "politics has played absolutely no role in disaster recovery." [14]
In 2013, the state engaged Hammerman & Gainer Inc. (HGI) to administer the federally funded, $1.2 billion Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, Elevation and Mitigation (RREM) program, which gives grants of up to $150,000 to homeowners to repair and rebuild homes damaged by Sandy. HGI's $68 million bid was $127 million lower than Tetra Tech, the only other bidder. [15] [16] The $68 million contract was originally meant to run from 2013 to 2016, [17] but December 2013 was revised to end in January 2014 by mutual agreement. [18] [19] [20] The RREM program was beset by problems, leading to complaints from some applicants and Democratic lawmakers. [21] Severance from HGI's was due "performance problems" despite several months of "corrective action". [22] HGI's bills totaled $51 million. [20] It was paid $36 million, [23] and $21 million currently the subject of an arbitration dispute. [24] [25] [26] Ferzan said "services for HGI specifically were not needed." [14] [27]
On January 18, 2014, on Up with Steve Kornacki cable program, [28] Zimmer said that Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno and Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Rich Constable had, on two separate occasions in May 2013, pressured her to support a Rockefeller Group development project in Hoboken's North End in exchange for the city receiving additional federal Sandy relief aid. [29] On January 20, appearing on a CNN cable program, Zimmer stated that a month earlier, Marc Ferzan, Director of the Governor's Office of Recovery and Rebuilding had also pressured her to support more development in exchange for federal Sandy recovery funds. [30] Following her television appearances, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey met with Zimmer and reviewed and took as evidence a notebook journal in which she had written about the meetings. [31] They also interviewed two of her aides and five other potential witnesses. Zimmer stated: "As their investigation proceeds, they have asked me to refrain from giving any additional interviews and I am respecting their request." [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] The Christie administration officials categorically denied the allegations, [38] [39] [40] a spokesman saying "It is very clear partisan politics are at play here as Democratic mayors with a political axe to grind come out of the woodwork and try to get their faces on television." [41] [42] [43] [44] Zimmer said she had not come forward until after the so-called Bridgegate scandal (which had broken 10 days earlier) because she thought her claims would be not taken seriously. [45] On January 31, the city acknowledged that it had received subpoenas from the US Attorney. [46] [47]
An internal investigative was commissioned by the Christie administration and conducted by Randy Mastro of law firm Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher. Zimmer declined to participate. A report released in March 2014 said that Mayor Zimmer's allegations were, "in material respects, demonstrably false." [48] and "whether intentional or not, it appears that Mayor Zimmer's subjective perception of events she has described do not reflect objective reality." [49] Zimmer dismissed the report as "sadly predictable" and said she was still willing to repeat her allegations under oath, stating, "Randy Mastro could have written his report the day he was hired and saved the taxpayers the million dollars in fees." [50] [51] In editorials, The Star-Ledger and The New York Times labeled the report a "whitewash". [52] [53] as did 56% of New Jersey voters in an April 2014 survey by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. [54]
Ferzan resigned July 8, 2014 and was replaced by taken by Terry Brody. [5] He took up position as lecturer at Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. [2]
Ferzan is married to Kimberly Ferzan, a lawyer and professor at University of Pennsylvania Law School. [55]
Hoboken is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 60,419, an increase of 10,414 (+20.8%) from the 2010 census count of 50,005, which in turn reflected an increase of 11,428 (+29.6%) from the 38,577 counted in the 2000 census. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated a population of 57,010 for 2023, making it the 708th-most populous municipality in the nation. With more than 42,400 inhabitants per square mile (16,400/km2) in data from the 2010 census, Hoboken was ranked as the third-most densely populated municipality in the United States among cities with a population above 50,000. In the 2020 census, the city's population density climbed to more than 48,300 inhabitants per square mile (18,600/km2) of land, ranked fourth in the county behind Guttenberg, Union City and West New York.
The Hudson–Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) is a light rail system in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Owned by New Jersey Transit (NJT) and operated by the 21st Century Rail Corporation, it connects the communities of Bayonne, Jersey City, Hoboken, Weehawken, Union City, at the city line with West New York, and North Bergen.
Christopher James Christie is an American politician and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. A member of the Republican Party, he was the United States Attorney for New Jersey from 2002 to 2008 and a Morris County commissioner from 1995 to 1997. He was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and 2024.
Lorenzo Tyrone Langford (born c. 1955 is an American Democratic Party politician from Atlantic City, New Jersey. He is a former Mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey and was the resort city's second African American mayor.
Ralph Joseph Marra Jr. is an American lawyer who served as the Acting United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey. He held this position from the resignation of Chris Christie in December 2008 until the appointment of Paul J. Fishman in October 2009. In January 2010, after Christie became Governor of New Jersey, Marra was appointed to a top legal position in the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. After serving about a decade, he became senior counsel at Calcagni & Kanefsky, LLP in Newark, New Jersey.
Peter J. Cammarano III is an American disbarred attorney, former Democratic politician and a convicted felon. He was the 37th mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, serving from July 1 until July 31, 2009. Cammarano was arrested by the FBI on corruption charges on July 23, 2009, as part of an international criminal investigation known as Operation Bid Rig; he resigned from office eight days later. He pleaded guilty to extortion in April 2010 and was later sentenced to 24 months in federal prison.
Kimberly Ann Guadagno is an American lawyer and politician who served as the first lieutenant governor and 33rd secretary of state of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018.
Dawn Zimmer is an American politician who served as the 38th mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey. As president of the Hoboken City Council, she became acting mayor after incumbent Peter Cammarano's resignation on July 31, 2009 following his arrest on corruption charges. Zimmer is the first female mayor of Hoboken. She was first elected mayor in a special election for the balance of Cammarano's term on November 6, 2009 and was re-elected mayor for another four-year term in November 2013. In 2012, 2013 and 2014, she was ranked #3, #4 and #5, respectively, on The Hudson Reporter's list of the 50 most influential people in Hudson County.
Paula T. Dow is an American lawyer and judge. She served as the 58th Attorney General of New Jersey, appointed by incoming Governor Chris Christie. Her nomination to a full term was confirmed by the New Jersey Senate in February 2010. She is the first African-American woman to be attorney general in state history.
Richard E. Constable III is an American lawyer who was the 16th Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, serving from 2012 to 2015. A former Assistant US Attorney, he was also the Deputy Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Rich Constable currently serves as MSG Entertainment’s chief strategist overseeing legislative, community, and social impact initiatives.
Chris Christie took office as the 55th Governor of New Jersey on January 19, 2010, began his second term on January 21, 2014, and left office on January 16, 2018.
Jeffrey Scott Chiesa is an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senator from New Jersey from June 6 to October 30, 2013. As a member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 59th Attorney General of New Jersey from January 10, 2012, until June 6, 2013.
The effects of Hurricane Irene in New Jersey in 2011 included about $1 billion in damage to 200,000 homes and buildings. This made it the costliest disaster in the state's history, though this was dwarfed by Hurricane Sandy the following year. Irene struck the state on August 28, and was initially reported to be the first hurricane to hit New Jersey since 1903; however, post-analysis downgraded Irene to a tropical storm at its landfall in the Little Egg Inlet.
Hurricane Sandy was the costliest natural disaster in the history of New Jersey, with economic losses to businesses of up to $30 billion. The most intense storm of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, Sandy formed in the Caribbean Sea on October 22. For days ahead of its eventual landfall, the hurricane was expected to turn toward New Jersey, as anticipated by tropical cyclone forecast models and the National Hurricane Center (NHC). On October 29, Sandy lost its characteristics of a tropical cyclone and transitioned into an extratropical cyclone while approaching the New Jersey coast. About two and a half hours later, the former hurricane moved ashore New Jersey near Brigantine in Atlantic County, just north of Atlantic City, producing wind gusts as strong as 91 mph (146 km/h).
The 2013 United States Senate special election in New Jersey was held on October 16, 2013, to fill the New Jersey United States Senate Class 2 seat for the remainder of the term ending January 3, 2015. The vacancy resulted from the death of 5-term Democratic senator Frank Lautenberg on June 3, 2013. On June 4, 2013, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced that a primary election to fill the vacancy would take place on August 13, 2013, and that a special election would follow on October 16, 2013. Christie appointed Republican New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa to the seat as a placeholder; Chiesa announced at the time of his appointment that he would not be a candidate in the special election.
The Fort Lee lane closure scandal, better known as Bridgegate, was a political scandal in the U.S. state of New Jersey in 2013 and 2014. It involved a staff member and political appointees of then-governor Chris Christie colluding to create traffic jams in Fort Lee, New Jersey by closing lanes at the main toll plaza for the upper level of the George Washington Bridge.
Michele Brown is he President and CEO of Choose New Jersey, Inc. She became the CEO of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) in 2012 and in 2015 became the head of Choose New Jersey, a private group which, similar to the EDA, seeks to enhance investment in the state.
Stronger than the Storm was an advertising campaign to promote tourism in New Jersey in 2013. It portrayed the state as being resilient and having recovered from the impact and aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which had caused severe damage in Autumn 2012. The media blitz included billboards, radio spots, and television commercials featuring the Jersey Shore and including appearances by the Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, and his wife and children. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provided funding for the promotional campaign. The awarding of the contract to marketing firm MWW and the propriety of Christie's use of the ads during a re-election campaign has drawn media and governmental scrutiny. In January 2014, HUD initiated an audit of the expenditure. The audit is one of two simultaneous federal inquiries begun in 2014 involving the Chris Christie administration use of federal funds provided by the Hurricane Sandy relief bill.
Star Jet was a steel roller coaster that operated at Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey from 2002 until it was swept into the Atlantic Ocean by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Because the severance is being negotiated, and could wind up in litigation, Constable declined to discuss details of the contract termination. But he did say the decision to end the agreement was mutual and followed months of attempts at corrective action