John Farmer Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Director of theEagleton Institute of Politics | |
| Assumed office September 1, 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Ruth B. Mandel |
| ActingGovernor of New Jersey | |
| In office January 8, 2002 (12:00 PM–1:30 PM) | |
| Preceded by | Donald DiFrancesco |
| Succeeded by | John O. Bennett (acting) |
| 52ndAttorney General of New Jersey | |
| In office June 3, 1999[1] – January 15, 2002 | |
| Governor | Christine Todd Whitman Donald DiFrancesco |
| Preceded by | Peter Verniero |
| Succeeded by | David Samson |
| Chief Counsel to theGovernor of New Jersey | |
| In office 1997–1999 | |
| Governor | Christine Todd Whitman |
| Preceded by | Michael Torpey[1] |
| Succeeded by | Richard Mroz |
| Deputy Chief Counsel to theGovernor of New Jersey | |
| In office 1996–1997 | |
| Governor | Christine Todd Whitman |
| Preceded by | Michael Torpey[1] |
| Succeeded by | Jessica Furey |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1957-06-24)June 24, 1957 (age 68) Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Party | Independent |
| Education | Georgetown University (BA,JD) |
John J. Farmer Jr. (born June 24, 1957) is an American author, lawyer, politician, and jurist. He was the director of theEagleton Institute of Politics, where he also led the Miller Center for Community Protection and Resilience (CPR).[2] He served as actinggovernor of New Jersey for 90 minutes on January 8, 2002, by virtue of his status asNew Jersey Attorney General.
Farmer was born inJersey City, New Jersey, in 1957. He attendedGeorgetown University, where he received aB.A. degree in 1979 and aJ.D. degree in 1986.
After law school, he worked as a clerk forNew Jersey Supreme Court JusticeAlan B. Handler. From 1988 to 1990, he was an associate in the law firm ofRiker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti inMorristown. From 1990 to 1994, he was anAssistant United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey.
In 1997, GovernorChristine Todd Whitman appointed Farmer as chief counsel, after having served as deputy chief counsel and assistant counsel to the governor.[3]
Farmer was nominated to beNew Jersey Attorney General on March 15, 1999, and was sworn in the following June after being confirmed unanimously by theNew Jersey Senate. He continued to serve underDonald DiFrancesco after Whitman's resignation.
Farmer served as Acting Governor for 90 minutes on January 8, 2002. Following GovernorChristine Todd Whitman's resignation the previous year to become head of theEPA, Farmer was one of four people to serve as acting governor for the one-year period between Whitman's resignation andJim McGreevey's inauguration, along with three different senate presidents,Donald DiFrancesco,John O. Bennett, andRichard Codey. DiFrancesco served as acting governor for all but the last week of this period, when his term as senate president ended with the mandate of the outgoing senate on January 8, 2002, while newly elected governor Jim McGreevey would not be inaugurated before January 15, 2002.
The state did not have the position oflieutenant governor until 2010, and succession rules specified that the next in line for governor after the Senate President and the Speaker of theAssembly, which both became vacant on January 8, would be the Attorney General until the next Senate President could be sworn in or until an Acting Senate President could be elected. This automatically made Farmer Acting Governor. Farmer served as Acting Governor for 90 minutes until Republican SenatorJohn O. Bennett and Democratic SenatorRichard Codey were duly elected and sworn in as co-presidents of the senate, as the Senate had been evenly split between the two parties. They agreed to evenly divide the remaining week in the gubernatorial term, with Bennett serving from January 8, 2002 to January 12, 2002; and Codey serving from January 12, 2002, to January 15, 2002.
As a result, the state had five different people serving as governor during a period of eight days: DiFrancesco, Farmer, Bennett, Codey, and McGreevey.[4] In 2018, political journalist David Wildstein speculated that, asRobert E. Littell served as acting president of the senate until Bennett and Codey assumed the role, it's possible that "maybe" Littell assumed the governorship for "a few minutes" as well.[5] However, Littell is not included on a list of governors of the state published by theNational Governors Association.[6]
Farmer subsequently acted as senior counsel to the9/11 Commission, chaired by former New Jersey GovernorThomas Kean.
Farmer's book,The Ground Truth: The Untold Story of America Under Attack On 9/11,[7] was released days before the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. In "The Ground Truth," Farmer made the following controversial statement: "At some level of government," says Dean Farmer, "at some point in time, a decision was made not to tell the truth about the national response to the attacks on the morning of 9/11. We owe the truth to the families of the victims of 9/11. We owe it to the American public as well, because only by understanding what has gone wrong in the past can we assure our nation's safety in the future."[8]
On January 21, 2010, he appeared onThe Colbert Report.
In July 2011, he was appointed the 13th (and tie-breaking) member ofNew Jersey's Congressional Redistricting Commission by both its Democratic and Republican members.[9] New Jersey lost one Congressional seat in redistricting and the panel redrew the congressional districts, determining which seat was lost.[10]
Farmer has served as dean ofRutgers School of Law–Newark. In his tenure, In conjunction withRutgers Law Review, Farmer planned a multi-day symposium to address the many legal uncertainties in national security policies and practices following theSeptember 11 terrorist attacks. The symposium featuredThomas Kean,Michael Chertoff,John Joseph Gibbons, and others. TwoUnited States Supreme Court justices,Stephen Breyer andSamuel Alito, also have spoken at the law school. Prior to his deanship, Farmer practiced law as a partner in aNorth Jersey firm he founded, and was an adjunct professor of law at theRutgers School of Law–Newark. He also regularly contributes toThe Star-Ledger,The New York Times, and other publications.
On April 11, 2013, he was appointed as the senior vice president and general counsel atRutgers University inNew Brunswick, New Jersey.
On August 19, 2019, Farmer was appointed by ChancellorChristopher J. Molloy to succeed Ruth B. Mandel as the director of theEagleton Institute of Politics atRutgers University.[2]
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | New Jersey Attorney General 1999-2002 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Donald DiFrancesco Governor | ActingGovernor of New Jersey January 8, 2002 (12:00 PM-1:30PM) | Succeeded by John O. Bennett Acting Governor |
Since the 1947 state constitution | ||
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| International | |
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| National | |
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