parse attributes problem

If a bit of unknown code is in the attribute list, such as an editor
relic ( ; )
<a href="http://www.someplace.htm" target="mainWindow" ;>
there is an unhandled exception with:
Report.attrError(this, this.token, value, Report.BAD_ATTRIBUTE_VALUE);

The logic was
if (attribute != null && isValidAttrName(attribute))
 {
                av = new AttVal( list, null, null, null,
                                 delim.value, attribute, value );
                av.dict =
                   
AttributeTable.getDefaultAttributeTable().findAttribute(av);
                list = av;
 }
 else
 {
                av = new AttVal( null, null, null, null,
                                 0, attribute, value );
                Report.attrError(this, this.token, value,
Report.BAD_ATTRIBUTE_VALUE);
  }


 The editor relic ; is not null but is not valid, the && makes it fall
thru to
the error clause.

 It should probably be treated as whitespace. I have found several
editor relics in
 the  pages that I have been investigating. The C tidy does not have
this problem.