Jewish Voice - The NYU Brennan Center for Justice has done numerous studies that political parties and court insiders choose most of NY’s Judges. Most judicial elections are non-competitive and when there is more than one judicial candidate on the ballot, voters know little about the judicial candidates running. Judges should not be an arm of the political machines, court insiders, or chosen by the mayor and government selection committees full of the same party and court insiders. We need elected judges who reflect the values of all New Yorkers, not just the special interests. To make judicial elections easier to understand, Civil Court Judges should be elected by Assembly Districts. Supreme Court Judges should be elected by State Senate Districts. Judicial elections need public funding, and the state should mail every vote a bio of every judicial candidate, as the city does of every City Council candidate. NY needs an elected third branch of government, an independent judiciary, to speak out against bad laws made by the other two branches of government, not one controlled by political insiders by regulations. Some in Albany and within the state’s court system want to take the control of electing judges away from the voters. With NY Chief Judge Janet DiFiore stepping down from a position that was once elected, now appointed, it is time for the media and all New Yorkers to investigate who picks the judges.
Judicial Convention Sausage Factory Continues,
Almost Nobody Noticed “For a glimpse into the odious nature of how the political bosses make judges in New York , we direct your attention to a letter in Friday's Voice of the People by veteran court watcher Alan Flacks. On Tuesday, Flacks dropped in on the Brooklyn Democratic Party's ceremony for elevating faithful lawyers to the bench. The party calls it a convention. It's not. It's a charade, currently directed by boss Vito Lopez.” – September 19, 2008.Manhattan: I attended the Kings County Democratic judicial nominating convention Tuesday. It was orchestrated "Soviet-style." Short, sweet, lady- and gentleman-like, the script called for the eight candidates to be designated or redesignated without opposition, even for supposed "open" seats. Before adjournment, each judge candidate got up and gave a short thank-you speech. Every one of them expressed gratitude to the party district leaders for their support, and they also expressed effusive thanks to and praise of County Leader Vito Lopez (photo). One "re-up," John Leventhal of the Appellate Division, Second Department (after inquiring if the press was present) thanked now-imprisoned county leader Clarence Norman as well, and another called Lopez "the greatest county leader ever." After adjournment, I spoke with a number of delegates who voted "automatically" and didn't seem to know for whom they were voting. They didn't know, and were just told for whom to vote. - Alan Flacks
“For a glimpse into the odious nature of how the political bosses make judges in New York, we direct your attention to a letter in Friday's Voice of the People by veteran court watcher Alan Flacks. On Tuesday, Flacks dropped in on the Brooklyn Democratic Party's ceremony for elevating faithful lawyers to the bench. The party calls it a convention. It's not. It's a charade, currently directed by boss Vito Lopez.” – September 19, 2008 Daily News
Daily News Call the City Bar Association Screening Panel Seddio's Puppet
"The city bar association also rates would-be judges. But Seddio, a honcho in the Brooklyn bar, influences that panel. Why even have a supposedly straight-arrow screening commission when it's tainted by bosses? You know the answer." - Daily News,
Party Puppets Rubber Stamp The Political Bosses Pick for Supreme Court Judges
"A dozen delegates, in recent interviews, said they could not even remember the handful of candidates they had nominated for the State Supreme Court last year. They said the convention, as always, had been a carefully scripted event lasting less than an hour. Whether the candidates were potentially outstanding judges, the delegates said they never knew. Before the convention, the party never makes an effort to inform them about which candidates are going to be nominated. In fact, the names are often secret." NY Times 2003
Surrogate Court is A Political Toll Booth Exacting Tribute From Widows and Orphans"
- Robert Kennedy, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia
In the 1930s, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia called Surrogate's Court "the most expensive undertaking establishment in the world." He believed it was control of the Surrogate's Court of New York County, more than any other factor, that kept the Tammany Hall political machine alive through the lean years when he deprived it of city jobs and President Franklin Roosevelt denied it federal jobs. All wills are probated in this court and all estates of people who die without a will are handled in this court. The Judge of this court handles the unclaimed property of the deceased without wills. It also handles adoptions. There is a Surrogate's Court in each county in the state.
Queens A Court, Not Votes, Sustains a Political Machine in Queens (NYT, 11/28/11)
True News Corruption and the Surrogate Court *Stealing From the Dead Court
Estate's official resigns after office mishandles $2.2M in assets(NYP)The official who oversees estates of people who die without wills in Brooklyn — and whose office was cited for sloppy work by the city comptroller last year — has resigned, The Post has learned. Kings County Public Administrator Bruce Stein stepped down earlier this month, in part because of questions about his ability to perform the job, a source said. Stein’s office was slammed by former Comptroller John Liu in 2013 for mishandling more than $2.2 million in assets, including misplacing a fur coat and allowing $50,000 in cash to sit unclaimed in a safe deposit box for five years. The money was claimed only after the auditors pointed it out. The auditors found shoddy work in more than half of the 50 cases that were examined. Stein was appointed to the role in January 2009 and was earning more than $123,000. He did not respond to a request for comment.
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