Farber- Courier Post - Boyfriend has spotty record

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Published in the Courier Post, Friday, July 21, 2006

Farber's boyfriend has spotty record

By TOM BALDWIN
Gannett State Bureau

TRENTON -- Hamlet Goore, the live-in boyfriend whose routine traffic stop has Attorney General Zulima Farber fighting for her job, possesses a driving record punctuated by suspensions, speeding violations, ignored tickets and accidents.

And twice he was disciplined by the state Supreme Court for playing loose with the facts and with his clients' money.

The Office of Attorney Ethics lists Goore as being reprimanded in 1992 and 1995, the first time for failing to deliver a client's funds, among other wrongs, and the second time for lying to a bankruptcy court about fees that he charged.

Goore, 65, who is acting commissioner of community development and planning in Irvington, sent word through a receptionist Wednesday that he was unavailable to talk to a reporter.

A councilman there has called for Goore to resign. Irvington Mayor Wayne Smith said Wednesday he will not act against Goore until the results of a state investigation are made public and if Goore is found to have misbehaved.

It was May 26, the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, when Goore, stopped by Fairview police for not wearing a seatbelt, got on his cell phone.

He summoned his girlfriend, Farber, who dashed 13 miles from Newark to the traffic stop in a trooper-driven state car with emergency lights flashing.

Upon arriving, where Fairview's mayor joined Farber, police reversed their plans to impound Goore's minivan, and they allowed him to drive home, though the vehicle lacked registration and Goore's license had been suspended.

Attempts later in the day by police to void the tickets handed to Goore were not accepted by the Fairview Municipal Court.

The incident, in which Farber insists she exerted no influence, is under investigation by a retired Atlantic County judge. Republicans are calling for Farber to quit, with little in the way of defense coming from her erstwhile Democratic supporters.

In fact, one of her strongest backers, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-Hoboken, refused to comment Wednesday. Farber has donated more than $18,000 to Menendez campaigns since 1997; Goore has donated to Menendez, too, but far less.

"The governor has appointed an independent investigator," Miller said. "And the public and the attorney general deserve for that investigation to proceed. So he won't have any comment while it is ongoing."

State Sen. Thomas Kean Jr., R-Westfield, who is running against Menendez in the November election, is one of three lawmakers who wrote a letter Wednesday to the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. John Adler, D-Cherry Hill, asking for the committee to conduct hearings on the Farber allegations.

The other two are Sen. Joseph Kyrillos Jr., R-Middletown, Monmouth County, and Sen. Gerald Cardinale, R-Demarest. Sen. Robert Martin, R-Morris Plains, also supports the contents of the letter but wasn't available to sign it Wednesday, a spokesman said.

MVC spokesman Michael Horan said Goore's driving record includes 11 suspensions, three accidents, three speeding tickets and two other moving violations, improper turning and passing in 25 years. "1981, that's as far back as I have," said Horan.

Reach Tom Baldwin at tbaldwi@gannett.com

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