James 3528
08-17-2006, 11:30 PM
On the tail (LOL) of gay family man and Governor of New Jersey resigning after paying his rump ranger and Israeli commando with New Jersey's tax payer money. Their Attorney General has gone down ,
But not on a weenie.
Her specialty in law was ethics.
TRENTON, Aug. 15 — The attorney general of New Jersey, Zulima V. Farber, resigned on Tuesday night after a state investigation found that she had violated her own department’s code of ethics by going to the aid of her companion during a routine traffic stop.
“I am steadfast in my conviction that the findings do not compel my resignation, and no one has asked for it,” Ms. Farber said, before conceding that staying on would cause too much of a disruption and prevent her from serving effectively.
As she spoke, her eyes visibly moist and her tone at times defiant, Ms. Farber stood next to Gov. Jon S. Corzine, who was enduring the first personnel crisis of his administration.
The accusations that Ms. Farber might have influenced officers when the police stopped her companion in late May had revived criticism of her selection earlier this year. At the time, her driving record — including 12 speeding tickets, 4 bench warrants and 3 license suspensions — was questioned, but Mr. Corzine dismissed such criticisms.
At a news conference on Tuesday at the State House, the governor said that Ms. Farber, “after thoughtful and truly painful consideration,” had decided “to do more than ordinarily would be required for a lapse in judgment.”
Mr. Corzine insisted that he had not asked for Ms. Farber’s resignation. The two received the report on Monday and met that night in Hoboken, according to a high-ranking official of the Corzine administration, and again on Tuesday morning in Newark. It was not until hours later, the official said, that Ms. Farber decided to step down.
On May 26, Ms. Farber received a call from her companion, Hamlet E. Goore, saying that he had been stopped at a seat-belt enforcement checkpoint in Fairview, in Bergen County, and the police determined that he had a suspended license and an expired registration.
Ms. Farber was taken to Fairview in her state car, driven by a trooper. But she has said she did not intercede in any way and did not speak to any police officers. She did acknowledge, however, that Mr. Goore had told the police that his companion was coming to help remove some items from his van — and that his companion was the attorney general.
The investigation, led by a former state appeals court judge from Atlantic County, Richard J. Williams, found that although Ms. Farber broke no laws at the scene, her appearance there raised “serious ethical questions.” Judge Williams’s report cited three specific violations of the Department of Law and Public Safety’s code of ethics that prohibit officers and employees from accepting favors because of their position or appearing to influence others.
The report made no recommendations as to whether Ms. Farber should remain in office, but the language that was used was stern. As attorney general, Judge Williams wrote, “coming to the scene of a traffic stop where you have a personal interest in the outcome of police decisions made at the scene creates a serious risk of raising public suspicion about the legitimacy of those decisions.”
The report continued: “It also creates a risk of inhibiting the local police officers at the scene. It does not appear that the attorney general ever considered those risks.”
In response to reporters’ questions on Tuesday night, Ms. Farber said she went to the scene of the traffic stop “to remove valuable stuff from the back of the van that was about to be impounded.”
The governor’s office ordered the investigation on July 5, about a week after the first news reports about the traffic stop.
Those reports prompted some Republicans to demand Ms. Farber’s resignation, and even some Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee — which had approved her nomination seven months ago — called for her to reappear before the panel.
While she never did explain herself to the committee, she did make personal entreaties to some legislators. State Senator John H. Adler, a Democrat from Camden County who is the chairman of the committee, said that Ms. Farber came to his house in Cherry Hill last month — in a car driven by a state trooper — to ask for his help. At his kitchen table, Mr. Adler said, he told her that she should resign, and Ms. Farber, accompanied by two lawyers, resisted.
After watching her resignation announcement, Mr. Adler said, “I’m glad that we can put this sad chapter behind us and look for an attorney general of the highest intelligence, competence and integrity to restore a department that’s once again been disappointed by failed leadership.”
Ms. Farber’s resignation is effective Aug. 31, and the first assistant attorney general, Anne Milgram, will become acting attorney general.
Ms. Farber, 61, immigrated from Cuba when she was a teenager. As a lawyer, she served as the state’s public advocate and in several other posts in Democratic administrations. When she was nominated by Mr. Corzine in January, she was a partner at Lowenstein Sandler, a large law firm with offices in Roseland, N.J., and Manhattan.
Three years ago, Gov. James E. McGreevey considered her a candidate for a State Supreme Court vacancy, but never went forward with a nomination after he learned of her troubled driving record.
Judge Williams was designated a special deputy attorney general, since Ms. Farber’s office could not participate in investigating her. He had a staff of two lawyers and two investigators. According to their report, Mr. Goore’s 1995 Oldsmobile van was stopped at 9:40 a.m. in Fairview, near the home he shared with Ms. Farber in North Bergen.
Mr. Goore was not wearing a seat belt, and the police also discovered that he was not carrying a valid driver’s license, which had been suspended since April 2005, or vehicle registration, which expired in January 2005. Officer Albert Napolitano told Mr. Goore that he could not operate the car and that it would be impounded. But the officer told Mr. Goore that he could call someone to help retrieve items from the van and drive him home, and the person he called was Ms. Farber.
Mr. Goore did not return a call placed to his office on Tuesday in Irvington, where he is acting director of the city’s Department of Community Development and Planning.
The judge’s report recommended that three officers involved in the traffic stop be suspended without pay for two weeks, and all three accepted.
Joseph T. Afflitto Sr., a lawyer for one of the officers, said: “You’re dealing with what you consider to be the highest-ranking law enforcement officer in the state, so you’re inclined to accept it. If the boss says this is what I’d like, you do it.”
But not on a weenie.
Her specialty in law was ethics.
TRENTON, Aug. 15 — The attorney general of New Jersey, Zulima V. Farber, resigned on Tuesday night after a state investigation found that she had violated her own department’s code of ethics by going to the aid of her companion during a routine traffic stop.
“I am steadfast in my conviction that the findings do not compel my resignation, and no one has asked for it,” Ms. Farber said, before conceding that staying on would cause too much of a disruption and prevent her from serving effectively.
As she spoke, her eyes visibly moist and her tone at times defiant, Ms. Farber stood next to Gov. Jon S. Corzine, who was enduring the first personnel crisis of his administration.
The accusations that Ms. Farber might have influenced officers when the police stopped her companion in late May had revived criticism of her selection earlier this year. At the time, her driving record — including 12 speeding tickets, 4 bench warrants and 3 license suspensions — was questioned, but Mr. Corzine dismissed such criticisms.
At a news conference on Tuesday at the State House, the governor said that Ms. Farber, “after thoughtful and truly painful consideration,” had decided “to do more than ordinarily would be required for a lapse in judgment.”
Mr. Corzine insisted that he had not asked for Ms. Farber’s resignation. The two received the report on Monday and met that night in Hoboken, according to a high-ranking official of the Corzine administration, and again on Tuesday morning in Newark. It was not until hours later, the official said, that Ms. Farber decided to step down.
On May 26, Ms. Farber received a call from her companion, Hamlet E. Goore, saying that he had been stopped at a seat-belt enforcement checkpoint in Fairview, in Bergen County, and the police determined that he had a suspended license and an expired registration.
Ms. Farber was taken to Fairview in her state car, driven by a trooper. But she has said she did not intercede in any way and did not speak to any police officers. She did acknowledge, however, that Mr. Goore had told the police that his companion was coming to help remove some items from his van — and that his companion was the attorney general.
The investigation, led by a former state appeals court judge from Atlantic County, Richard J. Williams, found that although Ms. Farber broke no laws at the scene, her appearance there raised “serious ethical questions.” Judge Williams’s report cited three specific violations of the Department of Law and Public Safety’s code of ethics that prohibit officers and employees from accepting favors because of their position or appearing to influence others.
The report made no recommendations as to whether Ms. Farber should remain in office, but the language that was used was stern. As attorney general, Judge Williams wrote, “coming to the scene of a traffic stop where you have a personal interest in the outcome of police decisions made at the scene creates a serious risk of raising public suspicion about the legitimacy of those decisions.”
The report continued: “It also creates a risk of inhibiting the local police officers at the scene. It does not appear that the attorney general ever considered those risks.”
In response to reporters’ questions on Tuesday night, Ms. Farber said she went to the scene of the traffic stop “to remove valuable stuff from the back of the van that was about to be impounded.”
The governor’s office ordered the investigation on July 5, about a week after the first news reports about the traffic stop.
Those reports prompted some Republicans to demand Ms. Farber’s resignation, and even some Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee — which had approved her nomination seven months ago — called for her to reappear before the panel.
While she never did explain herself to the committee, she did make personal entreaties to some legislators. State Senator John H. Adler, a Democrat from Camden County who is the chairman of the committee, said that Ms. Farber came to his house in Cherry Hill last month — in a car driven by a state trooper — to ask for his help. At his kitchen table, Mr. Adler said, he told her that she should resign, and Ms. Farber, accompanied by two lawyers, resisted.
After watching her resignation announcement, Mr. Adler said, “I’m glad that we can put this sad chapter behind us and look for an attorney general of the highest intelligence, competence and integrity to restore a department that’s once again been disappointed by failed leadership.”
Ms. Farber’s resignation is effective Aug. 31, and the first assistant attorney general, Anne Milgram, will become acting attorney general.
Ms. Farber, 61, immigrated from Cuba when she was a teenager. As a lawyer, she served as the state’s public advocate and in several other posts in Democratic administrations. When she was nominated by Mr. Corzine in January, she was a partner at Lowenstein Sandler, a large law firm with offices in Roseland, N.J., and Manhattan.
Three years ago, Gov. James E. McGreevey considered her a candidate for a State Supreme Court vacancy, but never went forward with a nomination after he learned of her troubled driving record.
Judge Williams was designated a special deputy attorney general, since Ms. Farber’s office could not participate in investigating her. He had a staff of two lawyers and two investigators. According to their report, Mr. Goore’s 1995 Oldsmobile van was stopped at 9:40 a.m. in Fairview, near the home he shared with Ms. Farber in North Bergen.
Mr. Goore was not wearing a seat belt, and the police also discovered that he was not carrying a valid driver’s license, which had been suspended since April 2005, or vehicle registration, which expired in January 2005. Officer Albert Napolitano told Mr. Goore that he could not operate the car and that it would be impounded. But the officer told Mr. Goore that he could call someone to help retrieve items from the van and drive him home, and the person he called was Ms. Farber.
Mr. Goore did not return a call placed to his office on Tuesday in Irvington, where he is acting director of the city’s Department of Community Development and Planning.
The judge’s report recommended that three officers involved in the traffic stop be suspended without pay for two weeks, and all three accepted.
Joseph T. Afflitto Sr., a lawyer for one of the officers, said: “You’re dealing with what you consider to be the highest-ranking law enforcement officer in the state, so you’re inclined to accept it. If the boss says this is what I’d like, you do it.”