Faith Hochberg

November 18, 2008 - 11:22am

SLIDESHOWS

U.S. Attorneys from New Jersey

By Editor

President-elect Barack Obama will name New Jersey's 48th United States Attorney, presumably in 2009 with the advice and consent of U.S. Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez. Past U.S. Attorneys have included a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, a Secretary of Homeland Security, a state Attorney General, and several federal Judges.

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October 8, 2008 - 9:55am

Fishman is Lautenberg's choice for U.S. Attorney

By Wally Edge

If Barack Obama wins the presidency, a leading candidate for U.S. Attorney is Paul Fishman, a former federal prosecutor who reportedly has the backing of New Jersey's senior United States Senator, Frank Lautenberg. Sources close to Lautenberg say that he plans to strongly advocate Fishman's appointment to replace Republican Christopher Christie.

But Fishman essentially needs two votes to get the job, and U.S. Senator Robert Menendez has not committed any support to Fishman. Even though Lautenberg is the senior Senator, insiders say that the support of Menendez will be crucial to any successful candidate for U.S. Attorney.

Lautenberg pushed hard for Fishman to get the U.S. Attorney post in 1999, when Faith Hochberg was nominated to a federal judgeship. But Fishman got in the middle of a rather extraordinary public feud between Lautenberg and U.S. Senator Robert Torricelli. The Clinton administration sided with Torricelli, and when Hochberg resigned to take her seat on the bench (after a lengthy delay in the confirmation process), Attorney General Janet Reno elevated Torricelli's preferred choice, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Cleary, as New Jersey's interim federal prosecutor. Read More >

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August 13, 2008 - 3:14pm

Tornoe's cartoon makes a good point

By Wally Edge

Superior Court Judge Patricia J. Costello removed Dana Rone from her seat on the Newark City Council earlier this month for abusing her office when she interceded in a 2006 traffic stop involving her nephew. PolitickerNJ.com editorial cartoonist Rob Tornoe has an interesting take on the matter: that New Jersey operates under a culture where the powerful and politically connected use their influence to get special treatment every day.

Whether its premium seats for concerts, special license plates and badges for judges and elected officials that send a not-too-subtle don’t-mess-with-me signal to state troopers and local police officers, or even the get out of jail free cards the PBA provides to legislators and political leaders in quantity to give away to friends (maybe even contributors), New Jersey politicos actively seek special treatment on a daily basis. So maybe Tornoe is right when he opines that there is some hypocrisy to the system, although his characterization is entirely generic – there is no confirmation that Costello or her family drives a car with judicial license plates.