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NJ Supreme Court nominee "not black enough"
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| Contributor | *crickets chirp* |
| Last Edited | *crickets chirp* Apr 18, 2003 12:58am |
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| Category | Opinion |
| Media | Website - PoliticsNJ.com |
| News Date | Friday, April 18, 2003 06:58:29 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | "It's not right. It's just not right. Zulima Farber will not become a member of the New Jersey Supreme Court any time soon. The reason Farber, an experienced legal professional with impeccable credentials, won't get the chance to serve on our highest court has nothing to do with merit or logic.
Farber's nomination is being dropped by Governor McGreevey because of her driving record. More specifically, Farber got a speeding ticket in North Bergen and didn't appear in court or pay the fine. A bench warrant was issued for her arrest (standard practice in these cases…I know because I got one, except with me it was a parking ticket). According to Farber whose record as the state's Public Advocate was unblemished, she didn't realize there was a problem until she got word that her license was suspended. I believe Zulima Farber and I also know of dozens of other top professionals and really decent people who have experienced this same thing.
But apparently the governor couldn't allow for Farber's name to be considered any longer given her vehicular brush with the law. Members of the administration called her a "scofflaw" who exhibited what they called a "complete disregard for the court system." If this debacle weren't so sad, it would be really funny. The truth is Farber's Supreme Court nomination being dropped had nothing to do with speeding tickets or court dates. It had to do with ugly and very dangerous racial politics. Several powerful black politicians went to the governor and told him Zulima Farber, who is a black Cuban-American, shouldn't be the one to replace retiring Justice James Coleman, the state's first black on the Supreme Court.
The argument was that Farber wasn't black enough and that to bring on someone in part Hispanic was short changing the black community. I was hoping the governor would tell his misguided Democratic colleagues that he appreciated their argument, but Farber was more than qualified to serve on the high court. I was hoping he would have told them that Farber joining the Supreme Court would be a good thing for blacks, Hispanics, women and the entire state of New Jersey. I expected the governor to tell them that what they were doing was bad politics and in even worse taste to engage in this "not black enough" game with no winners that only divides the minority community.
But none of that happened."
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