The inference in NJ 101.5's story on Christopher Christie's three tickets is that the then-U.S. Attorney had a "do you know who I am" moment when he was stopped for speeding in September 2005. The Lambertville police director – coincidentally a former Democratic candidate for Hunterdon County Sheriff – told PolitickerNJ.com that Christie identified himself as a federal prosecutor. This is the latest in a series of self-inflicted wounds that has dominated the 2009 gubernatorial campaign in recent weeks.
The incident occurred eight months before Zulima Farber, then the state Attorney General, became embroiled in a similar controversy. On May 26, 2006, Hamlet Goore, Farber's live-in boyfriend, was stopped by a Fairview police officer for driving with a suspended license and an uninsured vehicle. Farber went to the scene and a State Trooper who was driving her spoke to the police officer.
After a two-month review, a special prosecutor named by Gov. Jon Corzine said that although she broke no laws, Farber violated state ethics codes by showing up. After initially resisting, she resigned.
Christie is not the only statewide candidate to get a ticket over the last few years: in April 2007, Corzine suffered serious injuries when his state car was involved in an accident on the Garden State Parkway. The trooper was reportedly driving at 94 mph and Corzine admitted to not wearing a seatbelt. He paid a $46 fine.
And Lambertville is no stranger to high profile traffic problems: in 2003, the year after he left the U.S. Senate, Robert Torricelli was found guilty of leaving the scene of an accident after a fender bender in the parking lot of a local supermarket. Proclaiming his innocence, Torricelli went to trial and testified that his former wife had been driving.
