The new top executive of the New Jersey agency dedicated to rooting out corruption and fraud claims principal residency in two states while working a second full-time job in Washington, D.C.
Tiffany Williams Brewer, who was named as the chief executive officer of the State Commission of Investigation on Monday, listed a recently-purchased Maryland home as her principal residence and voted in Tinton Falls, records show. She is also scheduled to teach four classes three days per week at Howard University this semester.
New Jersey law requires that public employees establish primary residence in the state within a year after hire, and records show Williams Brewer hasn’t applied for a required waiver to live out of state. She was named chair of SCI in 2022 and had served as interim executive director since its former director, Chadd Lackey, was killed in a July 10 car crash.
Williams Brewer joins a select group of highly compensated state officials given a CEO title. An SCI spokesperson declined to release Williams Brewer’s new salary and noted that her salary was available through public sources. But a state Treasury Department spokesperson said they didn’t have it, and a state payroll database had not been updated as of Wednesday.
Williams Brewer had been earning $175,000 annually as interim executive director. According to payroll records, at least four other CEOs within state government collect salaries between $210,000 and $295,000.
In November, Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration notified department heads that salary increases would be paused and new hires would be limited in order to “conserve state resources,” according to ROI-NJ.
While holding two full-time jobs isn’t illegal for public employees, experts said Williams Brewer’s dual roles – as a Howard professor and executive running SCI’s daily operations – raise questions about her commitment to taxpayers.
The questions are particularly notable, one observer said, given that the agency’s role is to investigate instances of potential government waste and abuse.
“It creates a level of uncertainty and doubt about the capacity to fulfill (the SCI’s) mandate,” said Marc Pfeiffer, associate director of the Bloustein Local Government Research Center at Rutgers University. “It feeds into the general suspicion the public has about how government agencies work with regard to compliance of these laws that are intended to prevent abuse.
“They clearly could have been more upfront and transparent, particularly given the role of the agency as a watchdog.”
How NJ residency rules work
By declaring the Maryland home as her primary residence, Williams Brewer might be in violation of the New Jersey First Act, Pfeiffer said. The law, enacted in 2011, requires public employees, including those at authorities, boards, bodies and commissions, to establish residency in New Jersey within one year of their hire date.
The New Jersey First Act defines “principal residence” as the place legally designated as a person’s legal address and residence for voting, which is “most clearly the center of (a) person’s domestic life,” as well as where they spend the majority of their nonworking time.
Employees can request an exemption from the New Jersey Department of Labor, but Williams Brewer is not listed on any agenda or minutes of the department’s Employee Residency Review Committee from January 2011 to January 2025.
She had not filed for an exemption as of Jan. 3, according to a public records request.
“It would seem to be more prudent for the SCI to have acted under the authority of the New Jersey First program to resolve any uncertainty,” Pfeiffer said.