The chair of the New Jersey State Senate Judiciary Committee is under investigation. WNYC has obtained a copy of a subpoena that seeks records relating to Union County’s Nichoas Scutari, whose post gives him the power to confirm the appointments of judges and prosecutors in the state.
The subpoena requires the records custodian in the town of Linden to appear before a state grand jury and turn over records related to the salary and job performance of Scutari, who was the town prosecutor until last year. The subpoena is signed by a deputy Attorney General in the Division of Criminal Justice’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability.
The subpoena requires the records custodian to appear before a grand jury in March with Scutari's time off, court logs, prosecutor appearance logs, Scutari's annual salary, his pension payments, and the list of lawyers who were hired to fill-in for him.
The mayor of Linden, Derek Armstead, has long been seeking an investigation of Scutari. He has written letters to the state Attorney General and the federal prosecutor in Newark with allegations that Scuatri used his position as town prosecutor as a no-show job.