Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff

Andrew Eristoff
Treasurer of New Jersey
Incumbent
Assumed office February 22, 2010
Governor	Chris Christie
Preceded by	Bradley Abelow
Personal details
Born	(1963-02-20) February 20, 1963 New York City, New York, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Alma mater	Princeton University Georgetown University

Andrew P. Sidamon-Eristoff (born February 20, 1963) is a Georgian American Republican Party politician from New York City who serves as New Jersey State Treasurer under Governor Chris Christie. He served as Commissioner of Tax and Finance under New York State Governor George Pataki from September 16, 2003 until his resignation on November 3, 2006.^[1]

Education and family background

Eristoff graduated from Princeton University with honors in 1985 and received a juris doctor degree with honors from Georgetown University Law Center in 1989. In 2000, Eristoff earned an Advanced Professional Certificate in Information Technology from New York University.

Known socially as Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff, he is the son of the late lawyer, government official, and environmental advocate Constantine Sidamon-Eristoff (1930–2011)^[2] and Anne Phipps Sidamon-Eristoff. His great-grandfather, Henry Phipps, was a partner of Andrew Carnegie. On his father's side, Eristoff is a grandson of Prince Simon Sidamon-Eristoff (1891–1961), a Georgian military officer and a scion of the noble Sidamoni-Eristavi family, who emigrated to the United States after the Bolsheviks invaded Georgia in 1921, and married Anne Tracy, a descendant of John Bigelow, an American diplomat in the mid-19th century.^[2]

Political career

Eristoff served as a member of the New York City Council from 1993 until 1999, elected three times to represent an overwhelmingly Democratic district on Manhattan's East Side. In addition to focusing on quality-of-life issues (he wrote the Taxi Rider's Bill of Rights and a law to ban panhandling near automated teller machines, for example), Eristoff became the Council's leading expert on technology and was made Chairman of the Council's Task Force on Technology in Government, the first Republican to hold a chair in modern times. In 1999, Eristoff became New York City Commissioner of Finance under Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He served in that role until 2002, earning recognition for implementing management strategies that leveraged technology and performance measurement to reduce costs, increase collections, and improve customer service.

After serving briefly as Chairman of the New York Republican County Committee, and an unsuccessful race for New York State Senate in 2002, Governor George Pataki appointed Eristoff Executive Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. In September 2003, Eristoff was nominated and confirmed as Commissioner of Tax and Finance. In his role as chief executive of the second-largest state revenue administration, Commissioner Eristoff oversaw a budget in excess of $400 million, managed over 4,600 employees, and was responsible for $77 billion in annual state and local revenues. He was a national leader in state- and national-level data sharing initiatives to support compliance programs; stabilized a multi-year $100 million IT project to build an integrated tax system; oversaw a landmark tax shelter amnesty initiative; and implemented project portfolio management and performance-based budgeting programs.

In January 2007, Eristoff applied to the New York State Legislature to be among the candidates screened to replace former New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi. In 2008, Eristoff served as Manhattan Coordinator for McCain-Palin 2008.

On January 14, 2010, he was nominated by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as State Treasurer. Eristoff assumed the duties of Acting State Treasurer on January 19, 2010. The New Jersey Senate confirmed his nomination on February 22.^[3] He was sworn in on March 2, 2010.^[4]

Electoral history

• 2002 special election for New York State Senate, 26th District
  • Andrew S. Eristoff (R), 40.7%
  • Liz Krueger (D), 59.3%

References

External links

• March 31, 1996 New York Times wedding announcement for Andrew Eristoff and Catherine Elaine Baxter
• Eristoff's Statements before Comptroller Selection Panel