Garden State in Irish Hands

IN the wake of the terrible accident which left New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine hospitalized, many questions have been raised.

Initial questions revolved around who caused the accident. Then it emerged that Corzine did not seem to be wearing a seat belt, and that his driver might have been going as fast as 91 miles an hour.

Amidst all of this, there were questions about who, exactly, was running the Garden State. Sure, Richard Codey has been tapped to serve as acting governor. But observers now believe the man really wielding the power is an Irish American operative who likes to remain behind the scenes, but who has suddenly been thrust into the spotlight.

In fact, the Corzine accident has thrown a light on the makeup of some of the governor's closest aides, and when you look at their names and backgrounds they read a bit like the roll call at a Friendly Sons of St. Patrick Dinner.

Perhaps the most important unelected official in New Jersey government right now is Tom Shea, Corzine's chief of staff. One of eight children, Shea was raised in Mays Landing, not far from Atlantic City.

Shea, who has not given many interviews, even as many acknowledge he is one of New Jersey's most powerful figures, has a background that reads like some kind of Bruce Springsteen song.

"My father was a factory worker," he told his college's alumni magazine last year.

Shea's mother was a secretary with the parish church. In a field where Shea is surely rubbing elbows with graduates from Harvard, Columbia, Brown and even the Garden State's own Princeton, Shea graduated from the College of New Jersey.

"I got my degree by working through college and taking advantage of (financial aid programs). Without those programs I probably would have ended up working right next to my father in the factory," said Shea.

Shea went right to work in New Jersey politics after college, landing a job with former Governor Jim Florio's office.

"He was very, very savvy at a young age, and he had the ability to think strategically about how political appointments would impact the political structure," one of Shea's previous bosses told The New York Times this week. "Frankly, he kept us from making mistakes or stepping on toes."

Shea then moved onto the national stage, working for Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign, then went to Washington to work for one of Clinton's top aides, Harold Ickes.

It was in 2000 that Shea first hooked up with Corzine. He later worked on John Kerry's presidential run, but he returned to his native Jersey to work on Corzine's bruising Senate race. He has since become a highly trusted aide.

"There is no question that at the end of the day Tom is making the decisions, because anyone who is working there knows that the governor is going to recover and Tom is the prime minister. He is one of the most powerful chiefs of staff I have ever seen," James P. Fox, a friend Shea's, was recently quoted as saying.

Fox worked closely with former Irish American governor and now famously "gay American" Jim McGreevey, so he knows how things in Jersey work.

As The New York Times added, "Never . has Mr. Shea's role been as vital as now, with Mr. Corzine possibly weeks or even months from being in any physical or mental shape to govern effectively."

The interesting thing, however, is that Shea is not the only trusted aide whose name has a Hibernian tinge. Other political operatives who Corzine brought on to serve as deputy chiefs of staff include veterans of both Trenton and Washington such as Maggie Moran and Patti McGuire.

Once he was elected, Corzine assembled a team with whom he knew he could work as governor. Now, Corzine has to see how Shea, Moran and McGuire - among others can work for the time that he is unable to fully carry out his duties as governor.

In the end, one thing that this reminds is just how deeply Irish New York's neighboring state is, from the infamous machine days of Frank Hague to Jersey City's current mayor Jerremiah Healy, whose immigrant dad made sure his son's name was spelled that unique way.

Now, Tom Shea is among those who carry on the Irish New Jersey tradition, even if he is a leader, well, by accident.

(Contact Sidewalks at tomdeignan@earthlink.net.)