NJ's new AG part II

Posted: 1/24/2006 4:39:43 AM EDT

From the Star Ledger 1-24-05 Long read but worth it.

Zulima Farber's nomination as state attorney general was approved by a state Senate committee yesterday after sharp questioning from Republicans about both her legal positions and her driving record.

Testifying for over three hours before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Farber defended her support of gun control and her opposition to mandatory minimum prison sentences.

She also fought off criticism that her driving record, which includes 13 traffic violations and four bench warrants for failure to appear in court, indicates she lacks respect for the law. Aides to former Gov. James E. McGreevey used similar arguments to scuttle Farber's potential nomination to the state Supreme Court in 2003.

"I would invite you to ask every court where I have appeared and ask those judges if I have shown respect," Farber said. "I have the utmost respect for the law."

The committee approved Farber's nomination, 8-2, with Sens. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth) and Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen) casting the two dissenting votes. The full Senate is expected to take up her nomination Monday, said Senate Democratic spokesman Jim Manion.

Democrats on the committee said Gov. Jon Corzine made an excellent choice in tapping Farber for attorney general.

"I feel safer and I am confident New Jersey families will feel safer with her as attorney general," Sen. John Adler (D-Camden), the committee chairman, said in casting his vote.

In her opening remarks, Farber, 61, of North Bergen, said her mission as attorney general would be to restore the public's confidence in government. "Confidence, however, must be won. It must be earned," she said. "It does not happen with platitudes. It does not happen through the force of good intentions alone. It happens through action, through large, attention-getting programs, certainly, but more fundamentally through the day-to-day, mundane, maybe even sometimes boring, pursuit of excellence."

Farber, who fled Fidel Castro's Cuba as a teenager and is currently a partner in the law firm Lowenstein Sandler of Roseland, would be the first Hispanic to hold the position. Over her 31-year career as an attorney, she has also worked as an assistant prosecutor in Bergen County, assistant counsel to then-Gov. Brendan Byrne and public advocate and public defender for then-Gov. James Florio.

The appointment is considered one of Corzine's most important because of his campaign pledge to make ethics a top priority in his administration. If confirmed by the Senate, Farber will replace Attorney General Peter Harvey, who has been criticized for failing to bring significant public corruption cases during his tenure.

After the vote, Farber hugged a stream of supporters who offered their congratulations. She interrupted the well-wishers to tell reporters she was "thrilled" with the nomination even though she felt the questions about her driving record were "humiliating."

During the hearing, though, Farber was alternatively apologetic and defensive about her traffic citations. "I've had some personal problems with driving. I apologize to this committee and the people of this state for that flaw," Farber said. "And I thank the governor for giving me a job with a driver."
When Cardinale continued to press her on the bench warrants, however, Farber responded: "Senator Cardinale, I have apologized for my mistake. I don't know what else you want me to do."

Farber also was questioned repeatedly about her views on handguns and mandatory minimum sentences. She testified that her views on gun control came into focus during her first week on the job as assistant counsel to Byrne. Farber had just returned to her apartment in North Brunswick when a teenage boy mugged her in the apartment's parking lot. She said the boy put a knife to her throat before taking her wallet and running away. "My first thought was, 'I wish I had a gun, I would shoot him in the back,'" Farber said. "That scared me to death. I don't believe people should run around with guns. The police should have guns."

Cardinale and Kyrillos both questioned Farber extensively about her criticism of mandatory minimum sentences. She serves on a commission that last month advocated abolishing the mandatory minimum sentences for dealing narcotics in "drug-free zones" around schools, parks and public buildings.
Farber testified she opposes mandatory minimums because they eliminate a judge's discretion when imposing sentences, not because she wants criminals to get off easy.

Lawmakers also asked Farber about some of the state's ongoing public corruption probes, including one into allegations by a South Jersey councilman that Camden County Democratic boss George Norcross III pressured him to oust his township's attorney. Each time Farber vowed to "pursue every allegation of corruption in this state."

"I'm going to review every open investigation and try to complete it as expeditiously as possible," she said. "I have no sacred cows."

Farber testified she plans to give special attention to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and the Schools Construction Corp., both of which have come under scrutiny for allegations of cronyism, misspending and waste.

Last month, U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie appointed a federal monitor to oversee UMDNJ's administration and $1.6 billion budget, under a deal to allow the university to escape criminal prosecution related to Medicaid overbilling.

"That's a state institution and I believe it should be primarily a state matter," Farber said. She later said she would ask Christie if the state could take over the monitoring process.

As for the SCC, which the state set up about three years ago to manage an $8.6 billion overhaul of public schools across New Jersey, Farber said, "This is a case of follow the money. There's so much money, as at UMDNJ, that this deserves special attention."

Posted: 1/24/2006 5:17:21 AM EDT

[#1]

Where is the animation of the exploding head. That is how i feel after reading that.

Ok found it

Posted: 1/24/2006 5:26:36 AM EDT

[#2]

"Farber had just returned to her apartment in North Brunswick when a teenage boy mugged her in the apartment's parking lot. She said the boy put a knife to her throat before taking her wallet and running away. "My first thought was, 'I wish I had a gun, I would shoot him in the back,'" Farber said. "That scared me to death. I don't believe people should run around with guns. The police should have guns."

What a twit. I'm sure the police wrote a very nice incident report about how you were the victim of an armed robbery.

Perhaps the next time the nice robber will slit your throat while he is robbing you. In the future please wear this hat at all times to avoid that possibility.

Posted: 1/24/2006 5:48:40 AM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
"Farber had just returned to her apartment in North Brunswick when a teenage boy mugged her in the apartment's parking lot. She said the boy put a knife to her throat before taking her wallet and running away. "My first thought was, 'I wish I had a gun, I would shoot him in the back,'" Farber said. "That scared me to death. I don't believe people should run around with guns. The police should have guns."

What a twit. I'm sure the police wrote a very nice incident report about how you were the victim of an armed robbery.

Perhaps the next time the nice robber will slit your throat while he is robbing you. In the future please wear this hat at all times to avoid that possibility.

i1.tinypic.com/miyjph.jpg

So if I read this quote correctly, what she is saying is she does not want the "little people" to own guns because she can't trust herself to control her own actions during a violent encounter or other problem scenario. Not everyone who has access to guns is going to commit a revenge killing against a mugger. Even if you don't have any formal training on the use of deadly force, even a fool knows that it is beyond the pale to shoot a retreating person in the back absent some specific, exigent circumstance that would require it (mugging ain't one, I'm afraid).

Typical hyperbole from the radical left. "I can't control myself so you shouldn't be trusted to either." Yeah, that's just the kind of person we need administering the entire state's criminal justice system.

Posted: 1/24/2006 6:52:58 AM EDT

[#4]

Quoted:

So if I read this quote correctly, what she is saying is she does not want the "little people" to own guns because she can't trust herself to control her own actions during a violent encounter or other problem scenario.

Typical hyperbole from the radical left. "I can't control myself so you shouldn't be trusted to either." Yeah, that's just the kind of person we need administering the entire state's criminal justice system.

You just summed it up perfectly. The clear pattern of liberals projecting their own mental ailments onto the general public goes beyond gun control, but it's one of their more obvious behavioral glitches.

Basic stuff from Psych 101, unstable individuals tend to project their defects onto others as a defense against having to actually confront them.

Credit our new AG with having the courage to be open about it. By her own admission, she's a hair-trigger Dirty Harriett vigilante just waiting to happen.

Other variations on this them are the anti-CCW speakers (Donnie Douche on CNBC interviewing Ted Nugent, for example) throwing up wild strawman arguments that CCW will bring on an Old West shootout storm, or neighbors killing neighbors thru the kitchen window.

Posted: 1/24/2006 7:10:37 AM EDT

[#5]

Woohoo, just what NJ needs, more anti-gun people spewing idiocy!

Posted: 1/24/2006 3:21:49 PM EDT

[#6]

Gee, what a nice lady

( 13 MV violations and 4 Bench Warrants ) Can't wait for her to get caught with a DUI.

Posted: 1/24/2006 5:00:31 PM EDT

[#7]

This should be no surprise to anyone in NJ. She was hand picked by Corzine as her anti-gun stance mirror's her boss's!

Posted: 1/24/2006 7:07:52 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
Gee, what a nice lady ( 13 MV violations and 4 Bench Warrants ) Can't wait for her to get caught with a DUI.

Remember

"I have the utmost respect for the law."

Posted: 1/24/2006 7:13:25 PM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Gee, what a nice lady ( 13 MV violations and 4 Bench Warrants ) Can't wait for her to get caught with a DUI.

Remember
"I have the utmost respect for the law."

And I'm the Queen of England....Cheerio!

Posted: 1/25/2006 8:31:34 AM EDT

[#10]

I heard her on the radio yesterday saying that she was thankful that the job of AG comes with a car and a driver.

I guess she'll have to find something else to do while she's on the road, besides violating the motor vehicle code. Maybe she'll take up smoking crack on her way to and from Trenton.

Posted: 1/25/2006 9:14:23 AM EDT

[#11]

Only in NJ can someone who consistently breaks the law hold public political office.

Posted: 1/25/2006 9:29:32 AM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
Only in NJ can someone who consistently breaks the law hold public political office.

..under the banner of a governor promising to bring ethics and integrity back to the state.

Posted: 1/25/2006 3:45:14 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
Gee, what a nice lady ( 13 MV violations and 4 Bench Warrants ) ...

She respects the LAW - WTF??? IIRC a bench warrant is an arrest warrant - I can see mitigating circumstances for maybe one bench warrant, BUT 4 (four) bench warrants??? Let's not forget those 13 VTL volations. She has no respect for the LAW, she has respect for her power and her "super citizenry" - She acts above the law.

Posted: 1/25/2006 4:11:52 PM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Gee, what a nice lady ( 13 MV violations and 4 Bench Warrants ) Can't wait for her to get caught with a DUI.

Remember
"I have the utmost respect for the law."

And I'm the Queen of England....Cheerio!

You're Elton John???????????

Posted: 1/25/2006 7:10:28 PM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Gee, what a nice lady ( 13 MV violations and 4 Bench Warrants ) Can't wait for her to get caught with a DUI.

Remember
"I have the utmost respect for the law."

And I'm the Queen of England....Cheerio!

You're Elton John???????????

No, hes the queen of england. I'm Elton John.

Posted: 1/25/2006 7:20:05 PM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Gee, what a nice lady ( 13 MV violations and 4 Bench Warrants ) Can't wait for her to get caught with a DUI.

Remember
"I have the utmost respect for the law."

And I'm the Queen of England....Cheerio!

You're Elton John???????????

No, hes the queen of england. I'm Elton John.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - NJ's new AG part II

Hometown » New York

Warning

Confirm Action

About AR15.COM

Stay Connected

Newsletter

Contact Us