N.J. court picks should have association's review.
In his first nomination to the New Jersey Supreme Court, Gov. McGreevey on the surface seems to be doing the same thing for which he criticized former Gov. Whitman: making "patronage" appointments of political allies.
His nominee, lawyer Barry T. Albin, is a long-time friend and political contributor from a well-known firm in Woodbridge, where Mr. McGreevey was mayor.
The Albin appointment's saving grace is that the governor submitted it to the state bar association for review, something Ms. Whitman refused to do after the controversy over her ill-advised appointment of Peter Verniero to the court.
Ms. Whitman scrapped a practice known as the "Hughes Compact," after Gov. Richard Hughes, who set it up in 1969. Under the compact, a governor agreed not only to submit nominees to the bar for review, but to withdraw the nomination of anyone the bar found "not qualified."
That process is a check against unqualified patronage appointments making it to the state's highest court.
Ms. Whitman short-circuited the process out of pique when the bar's finding that Mr. Verniero was "not qualified" became public. Those ratings are supposed to stay confidential.
Mr. Verniero, former state attorney general and counsel to the governor, barely survived the state Senate confirmation process. He was severely criticized a year later for his role in the state police scandal over racial profiling.
Later Whitman nominees to the high court voluntarily submitted themselves for review by the bar, but Ms. Whitman did not agree to abide by the bar's findings.
Mr. Albin, though benefiting from his close ties to the governor, is well-regarded by peers. He was a deputy attorney general and assistant prosecutor before joining the firm of Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, the firm of the late Chief Justice Robert Wilentz.
Besides submitting nominees for bar review, Gov. McGreevey should pay attention to another tradition that has helped sustain the high quality and reputation of the New Jersey Supreme Court: maintaining political balance on the court. This normally means replacing a justice with someone of the same party or philosophy.
The court has had three Democrats, three Republicans and an independent who was a Whitman nominee.
Mr. Albin, a Democrat, would replace an outgoing Republican justice, putting more Democrats than Republicans on the high court. Next year, a Democratic justice will retire; the governor should consider prospects for that vacancy who don't have clear ties to the Democratic Party.
A system of checks on the quality and balance of the Supreme Court has served New Jersey well. The governor should respect and preserve that tradition.
(From the 7/16/02 Philly Inquirer... donchya just love their unbiased reporting?)