well if there's anyone who knows about the frenetic nature of being appointed to fill a US senate seat it's Jeff Chiesa New Jersey's former Attorney General who was tapped by Governor Chris Christie in 2013 to serve as an interim member after senator Frank Lautenberg died it would later be won in a special election by Cory Booker but Chiesa a republican took the seat held by democrats for decades and served for less than five months he's described his time in the Senate as both impactful on his life and that of the New Jersey residents he represented I asked Jeff Chiesa for an inside look at what the role was like Jeff thanks so much for giving us a few minutes of your time I'm curious what was going through your head when then Governor Christie appointed you to fill the open US senate seat it was a truly life-changing experience I was the Attorney General at the time I was an appointed attorney general not an elected attorney general so I hadn't held elected office since high school uh which is you know really doesn't count and I was in the room with him to talk about the legal options that morning the morning after Senator Lautenberg''s death and I had no idea that I was likely to be picked my wife had an inclination that I'd be picked but I did not um that evening about 10 o'clock the governor called me uh and I asked him he asked me what I was doing I said I was getting ready for bed I asked asked him what he was doing and he said he was pulling into my driveway and so when he was coming to my house at 10 o'clock at night to talk to me personally I knew that was likely what was going to happen um and it was an amazing experience an overwhelming experience because I went from watching iconic figures like John McCain and Harry Reid and Orin hatch on TV to three days later being on the floor of the Senate with them yeah and casting critical votes too what did you work on what pieces of Legislation during the five months that you served in the Senate the biggest issue that came up when I was there was the uh immigration bill so in June of 2013 we had uh a rare instance they had all 100 Senators call to their chairs to vote by voice one by one in front of everybody it was the end of June of 13 so I'd been there for about three weeks and it was not to me uh it was an issue that made sense for New Jersey I was one of 14 Republicans that voted for that bill think there were 68 votes total I think it was all of the 54 Democrats 14 Republicans and it included people like John McCain and Bob Corker and people I have great respect for and so I cast that vote was the one that was on people's minds the most it's it's still on people's minds today it's an issue that came up in 2007 it came up in 2013 it's coming up now that was the big issue and the other issue I focused on was an issue that was really important to me as the attorney general which was human trafficking it sounds like you hit the ground running for anyone who thinks being tapped to fill in an interim role is a placeholder it sounds like they'd be sorely wrong you're one of a hundred from the moment you get there so I'll give you an example when I met John McCain the first time I called him Senator McCain and he said call me John you're one of us now and that was like right out of the gate and so you immediately understand the gravity of what's going on you're meeting with the president I met with the then vice president The Situation Room on Syria I dealt with judges cabinet members uh we we appointed Comey to the FBI during that uh time period other cabinet members were appointed judges were appointed and so yes you're there for five months but you if you're there you have one of 100 votes to do what you think is best for your for your the work is consequential was it difficult being new did you feel pressure to vote a certain way or was it the flip side where you felt more autonomy because you didn't have to worry about reelection the the the latter right it was it was complete autonomy because I just did what I thought was right I remember um a couple of times coming off the floor and saying hi to my colleagues and they would say to me you know it must be great to just go up there and vote the way you think makes sense without thinking about the ramifications of that vote for you politically and that's what I was able to do to Governor Christie's credit he gave me he trusted my judgment I assume that Governor Murphy I know Governor Murphy would put in someone there who he trusts his or her judgment to do the same thing but once you do that um that's I think that's the only way to do the job successful to go down there and do what you think is in in the state's best interest and in the country's best interest do you have any advice for whoever the potential interim replacement is enjoy it I mean I look back it's now been 11 years I left 11 years ago in November of 13 um when you're there it's it's an intense experience as a a person who never held elected office it was especially intense for me uh but I think about it now that I had the chance to do that and it's amazing to me my children were in grammar school the time and so I had each of them come down for a week uh my son was in eighth grade my daughter was in fifth grade he wanted to do more stuff meeting the Senators my daughter wanted to go to the zoo and go to different places and so we made those things available to her as best I could um but in the end it's it's an incredible honor to have that chance um I I still stay in touch there's been a lot of turnovers since I was there especially on the Republican side um but I I think that there's a lot of quality people that are still there um and I think Whoever has this opportunities going to going to look back at it as one of the highlights of their career Jeff Chiesa uh thanks so much for chatting with us of course you bring that special set of credentials to this experience thank you my pleasure thank you