Verniero's Days are Numbered
Steve Adubato, Ph.D.

He was condescending, forgetful and seemed perturbed that he had to be there at all. That was my impression of the recent testimony of Peter Verniero, former Attorney General now a member of the Supreme Court, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee examining the role he and some of his colleagues played in the racial profiling debacle.

The racial profiling problem was around long before Verniero became Attorney General. From recent statistics it appears that blacks and Latinos are still being arbitrarily stopped by state troopers on our highways while Verniero sits on the Supreme Court. Yet, fair or not, Peter Verniero has become the poster boy for the failure of state government, particularly the Whitman administration, to acknowledge racial profiling, much less try to stop it. In my view, former governor Christie Whitman should have been called back from her job as EPA Administrator in Washington to explain her cavalier and laissez-faire handling of this most difficult problem.

Clearly, Whitman knew racial profiling was going on, but had no desire to do what it would take to stop it. No desire to take on the state troopers who escorted and protected her as governor. They were pals and companions. Why rock the boat? Why press your Attorney General to press the state police to admit what they were doing and demand that it be stopped? That could get sticky. People could get hurt. It would get embarrassing.

Fact is, the state police have long been addicted to the practice of stopping blacks and Latinos in their cars as a method of trying to find illegal drugs on our major highways. Whitman knew that if they couldn't stop minorities the number of arrests the troopers made for drug possession would go down. They would look bad. So Governor Whitman did what she tended to do a lot-stick her head in the sand and close her eyes. See no evil, hear no evil.

Christie Whitman should have to explain in detail before the Senate why she was so out of it in dealing with the racial profiling problem. As a loyal soldier Peter Verniero was carrying out the direction given by his boss, Governor Whitman. And what about Verniero's predecessor, Attorney General Deborah Poritz, who now serves as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court? Poritz was never asked, much less compelled, to testify before the Senate. Yet she did provide a written statement to the Committee confirming that on her way out as Attorney General, she warned Verniero about the racial profiling problem. Poritz made it clear that racial profiling was very real and that it should be stopped.

Poritz handed Verniero to the Judiciary Committee on a silver platter. She made him look deceptive at best for insisting that the racial profiling problem hadn't "crystallized" for him until well after she alleges she warned him about it. Verniero's former aides testifying before the Committee made him look bad, but Poritz's written statement was a dagger to his heart. I can't imagine Poritz and Verniero doing a brown bag lunch together any time soon in their black judicial robes.

Further, if it was so clear to Deborah Poritz that racial profiling was alive and well in New Jersey, why didn't she as Attorney General do more to stop it? Why does it all fall on Verniero? We'll never know because like Christie Whitman, Deborah Poritz dodged a bullet in not having to testify before the Senate Committee in public, in front of the cameras-warts and all.

So, Peter Verniero is the fall guy for the Whitman administration on racial profiling. He thought he had gotten out in time. Elevated to the Supreme Court after testifying before this same Senate Committee two years ago and getting a pass. Now, it's only a matter of time before Verniero is either impeached or forced to resign from the state's highest court. The pressure is mounting. Someone has to publicly pay for this fiasco. Peter Verniero's recent testimony in which he "couldn't recall" so many critical pieces of information, only made it worse. For thirteen hours the Committee grilled him. For thirteen hours he never once acknowledged that he and the Whitman administration failed to deal with this issue in any remotely responsible way. Not a scintilla of candor or remorse. Now, Verniero refuses to come back and testify in person at the Committee's request to answer more questions. Fact is, there are no more questions. The only question that really remains is when and how the Senate together with other power brokers in Trenton, force Peter Verniero to take off his black robes and leave the Supreme Court. That is, unless he resigns first. Like I said, Peter Verniero is a very loyal soldier.

Steve Adubato, Ph.D. is a commentator, lecturer and former state legislator. Dr. Adubato is also an Emmy Award-winning television anchor and syndicated columnist.
He can be reached by fax (973) 509-1659 or e-mail him at sadubato@aol.com.

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