Senate panel advances
AG nominee
By SANDY McCLURE,
GANNETT STATE BUREAU
From the Home News
Tribune Online January 24, 2006
TRENTON -- The Senate
Judiciary Committee gave state Attorney General nominee Zulima Farber an 8-2
vote of approval yesterday after she promised to prosecute public corruption and
assured the committee her driving record did not reflect a disrespect for the
law.
The two members voting against her nomination were Sen. Gerald Cardinale,
R-Bergen, and Sen. Joseph Kyrillos Jr., R-Monmouth, Middlesex.
Farber faces a full vote Monday in the Senate. Her confirmation is
expected.
Without criticizing former Attorney General Peter C. Harvey, Farber promised to
run the Department of Law and Public Safety like a law firm where state lawyers
practice with excellence.
She told the committee her priorities would be "first and foremost to root out
and prosecute official corruption, to keep organized crime on the run (and) to
reverse the growing threat of gangs in our urban and suburban areas."
Farber pledged to work with other law-enforcement agencies and said she would
put "teeth" into the state's homeland-security programs.
She promised to review every open case on government corruption and pursue
corruption where she found it. "I have no sacred cows," she said.
Farber defended her opposition to mandatory sentences, saying they transferred
the power of sentencing from judges, where it belonged, to prosecutors.
Asked about the use of force by those whose homes are invaded by a burglar, she
said, "Deadly force should be reserved for defending one's self, not property."
As to changes in state law, she said she would look to recommendations by the
state commission reviewing sentencing laws in New Jersey.
Cardinale said her driving record showed a disregard for the law and said his
vote against the nomination resulted from the message her record sent to the
citizens of New Jersey.
Farber's record with the state Motor Vehicle Commission shows 13 speeding
tickets, three suspensions of her drivers license and a bench warrant for
failing to pay a fine.
"We are not perfect," Farber said. "None of us is. I apologize for
that flaw. I thank the governor for giving me a job with a driver."
Under oath, a step now required of everyone testifying before the Senate
Judiciary Committee, she told lawmakers her most recent four-point violation was
a mistake that was corrected by the municipal court. "There was no four
points," she said.
While the four-point violation never went on her MVC record, Plainsboro police
said yesterday that Farber was issued a ticket on Feb. 10, 2004, that alleged a
four-point speeding violation — traveling 75 mph in a 55 mph zone.
Plainsboro police Capt. Elizabeth Bonduant said when Farber appeared in
Plainsboro Municipal Court on March 31, 2004, the violation was amended to
unsafe driving, which carries no points.
The MVC listed the four-point violation until Thursday, when the municipal court
corrected it.
Sandy McClure:
smcclur@gannett.com
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