By David Cruz
Correspondent
Walter Timpone was greeted warmly and treated with kid gloves by the Democrat-controlled Judiciary Committee. After so much haggling, threatening and dealing, Gov. Chris Christie realized that all he had to do was give Democrats the Democrat they wanted and they would give him a swift hearing. Even though some lawmakers thought the hearing might’ve been a little too swift.
“I would’ve liked a bit more time, perhaps we could’ve met in person,” lamented Sen. Mike Doherty. “I tried to do that with the other justices. … It’s not you; you’re just part of the system here. I just wish in the future we had more time.”
Time to look more closely at Timpone’s past relationships with people like Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo who got Timpone’s nephew a job, and now appears to be benefiting from Timpone’s recusal from an Election Law Enforcement Commission case involving the county executive. His recusal left the door open for DiVincenzo to beat the rap. Timpone noted that his nephew had resigned after a falling out with DiVincenzo.
“If I voted in favor of the complaint, then I was doing it out of malice because my nephew resigned, or I voted against the complaint, I was doing it because I owed him a favor,” explained Timpone. “And I didn’t want to damage either my personal ethics or the reputation of the Election Law Enforcement Commission.”
In 2002, Timpone, a life-long Democrat, was being considered as the top deputy to Christie when he was appointed U.S. Attorney. During that time, Timpone met with then Sen. Bob Torricelli, at the senator’s home, which raised eyebrows among federal investigators who were keeping tabs on Torricelli. Investigators called him in and his careful responses evidently cost him the deputy’s job.
“Your appointment was ultimately withdrawn,” noted Committee Chairman Nicholas Scutari. “Can you explain the circumstances of that?”
“I do not count this among my best days as a lawyer,” replied Timpone. “My response should have been if you have a question about whether I have a conflict or not, let’s go to court. I didn’t do that; I got nicked and I paid the price.”
But Sen. Kevin O’Toole, a Republican, defended Timpone’s actions. “Until I heard this testimony and talked to you more fully, I got the impression that it was far more than it really was,” said O’Toole. “Now whether you were too artful or too lawyerly on the followup, that’s a different issue, but your sole purpose for being at Sen. Torricelli’s home was for an interview process as you were directed. OK, I want to be clear about that.”
It was as close to a confrontation as there was today. Timpone has a lot of friends on this committee and it showed with a unanimous vote to move the nomination to the Senate floor next week, proving that things here can actually move quickly when the the parties agree to not disagree.