Farber's actions
warrant probe,
perhaps resignation
EDITORIAL, Home News
Tribune Online, July 7, 2006
Gov. Jon S. Corzine earns a gold star
for his naming of a special investigator to find out whether state Attorney
General Zulima Farber used her office to help her boyfriend escape several
traffic tickets issued during a Memorial Day stop by police in the Bergen County
municipality of Fairview.
The choice of Richard J. Williams, a retired state appellate judge and Atlantic
County Republican, inspires every confidence that the probe will proceed in a
manner as unbiased and as thorough as possible.
Corzine can afford no less than the firm handling of his top law-enforcement
official, who came to her state appointment amid a swirl of questions about her
own record as a driving scofflaw; at the time of her controversial nomination,
Farber had amassed more than a dozen moving violations and one bench warrant for
her arrest when she failed to pay traffic fines.
As the latest story goes, boyfriend Hamlet Goore was issued several summonses
that later were voided by police after Farber arrived at the scene. One of
the tickets reportedly was for an unregistered vehicle, about which the law is
clear: police are authorized to impound.
Farber has said she was on the way to help Goore clean out his car before it was
seized. But the tow never happened and Goore drove away.
Farber insists she did nothing wrong and initially called all of the allegations
"absurd." Perhaps realizing that her own spotty record on the road lends
zero credibility to any defense she might personally offer, she since has
modified her tone, saying in a written statement this week: "I believe
that anyone who serves in a public position must understand that their authority
and legitimacy come from the public's trust."
And when that trust is violated, what next?
State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos, R-Monmouth, Middlesex, was one of only two lawmakers
on the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote against Farber's nomination as AG.
Of little surprise, his reservations haven't changed. "If the facts are as
they have been portrayed," Kyrillos said Wednesday, "then she should step
aside."
This page agrees. Corzine's appointment of Farber has always lacked the
zing of some of his better choices, even when the AG's woeful driving record is
set aside. Without much experience as a prosecutor, and with most of her
career built on the strength of highly visible political connections within the
Democratic Party, Farber remains a weak link — one who isn't worth a spot in the
chain of command if she acted improperly.
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