Christie court nominee raises questions

It was good to see Gov. Christie finally end his six-year attempt to make the New Jersey Supreme Court a partisan minion, but his latest nominee to the court raises questions that deserve thorough scrutiny by the state Senate before he is confirmed.

Walter F. Timpone, a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office from 1984 to 1994, raised controversy in 2001 when federal agents investigating U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli feared he had tipped off Torricelli that one of Timpone's legal clients had been asked to wear a hidden microphone in a meeting with the senator. The allegation never went further than that, but it derailed Timpone's nomination to be Christie's first assistant in the New Jersey U.S. Attorney's Office.

Timpone, a member of the state Election Law Enforcement Commission, also raised questions in 2013 when ELEC failed to pursue a case against Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo for improperly spending campaign funds and failing to disclose expenditures. Timpone had to recuse himself because his nephew worked for DiVincenzo, which left ELEC without a quorum to consider the case.

Timpone, a partner in a Morristown law firm, also recused himself from an ELEC case that questioned whether Christie's campaign fund could cover some costs of his defense against allegations that political retribution led to the shutdown of the George Washington Bridge during rush hour. Timpone had briefly represented Bridget Anne Kelly after Christie fired her as deputy chief of staff for her role in the incident.

If Timpone's nomination withstands scrutiny and he is confirmed, it should end Christie's disregard for New Jersey's wise tradition of seeking political balance on the state's highest court. Christie blatantly asserted his belief that the court was too liberal in 2010 when he refused to reappoint Justice John Wallace, a seasoned jurist with an unblemished record and the court's only African American.

The Republican governor's obstinacy was matched by the stubbornness of Democratic Senate President Stephen Sweeney, who refused to hold hearings for Christie's nominees to the court. The irony could not be missed as Democrats in Washington railed against Republican senators who on ideological grounds have refused to hold hearings for Merrick Garland, President Obama's nominee to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court.

At age 65, Timpone would serve only until the mandatory retirement age of 70. But his nomination alone is noteworthy if it signals the end of an unsavory political crusade to stack the court. The balance and high quality of its justices have long brought well-deserved respect to New Jersey's highest court. Politics should not be allowed to diminish its stature.