New AG gets off to
good start
EDITORIAL, thnt.com
from the Web, April 10, 2006
This page was not enthusiastic about
having Zulima Farber as the state's attorney general. It is still very
early, of course, but in the short term, at least, Farber has performed much
better than expected. She already has fired 40 lawyers from the state's
Criminal Justice Division staff in order to do her part to rein in spending.
The 2007 budget proposal puts the law division's budget at its lowest level in
seven years. Would that others might follow suit.
At the same time, she seems determined that her smaller staff will operate more
effectively. On Thursday, she announced reassignments that will beef up
not only the division that is investigating gangs and organized crime, but also
will greatly enhance the number of investigators and lawyers assigned to
fighting public corruption. It is deeply humiliating to admit that such a
reassignment is necessary, but given the history and magnitude of public
corruption in the state, necessary it is. And we welcome it.
It was only this week the public learned the extent of political influence in
hiring at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and there
seems to be no shortage of people who might be targets of criminal probes
connected to that institution.
There is always the hope, of course, that the fact the state is finally serious
about chasing down and prosecuting public corruption will be enough to make
public officials cleave to the straight and narrow. In that event, Farber
said she was prepared to revisit the reassignments. But in the meantime,
the bulked-up division can get to work tracking down those who already have
abused their positions.
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