A member of Governor Phil Murphy’s cabinet moved to Maryland over the summer and received a residency waiver that enabled him to work his $295,000-a-year job remotely.
Tim Sullivan, the chief executive officer of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, is now expected to resign on Tuesday, one day after the EDA’s last board meeting of the Murphy administration, administration officials confirmed.
The state’s employee residency review committee approved Sullivan’s out-of-state waiver in June. There was no public announcement of his departure until Sullivan told BINJE of his arrangement in October.
Under the New Jersey First Act, a state employee seeking to reside out of state must seek a waiver from the Employer Residency Review Committee. Sullivan did not move to Maryland until after he received the waiver, which was based on his wife receiving a new job.
Sullivan followed the EDA’s remote work police after moving, which included frequent visits to Trenton.
The number two person at the EDA, Mary Maples, is expected to be affirmed as acting executive director at Monday’s meeting. Maples will receive the full executive director salary until Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill announces her own pick; it’s unclear whether Maples is under consideration, although sources say the former assistant general counsel at the CIA – and the daughter of Thomas Evans, a Nutley Commissioner and Democratic municipal chairman – is a likely pick by Sherrill.
Maples served as director of the authorities unit under Murphy before becoming chief legal officer of University Hospital in Newark.
In 2018, Maples played a key role in an unsuccessful bid by the Murphy administration to seat Elizabeth Calabrese as vice chair of the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission. The post was won by Newark City Councilman Luis Quintana. It was not completely clear that Maples understood the depth of Quintana’s political clout.
Sullivan, who grew up in Bergen County, held economic development posts under New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and in Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy before moving to New Jersey as Murphy’s pick to lead the agency in 2018.
