Judge Stands Up to Judicial Commission Shenanigans

NY Judge Changes Mind, Won't Resign Over Allegations
The New York Law Journal by Mark Fass - August 19, 2008

A town justice who agreed to step down from office in the face of allegations of misconduct has changed his mind. According to a complaint by the Commission on Judicial Conduct, the misdeeds of Hudson Falls Village Court Justice Michael M. Feeder included flagging down a motorist for speeding through a yield sign and then presiding over the early stages of that same motorist's trial.

Under a stipulation with the commission, Mr. Feeder agreed to resign and never again seek judicial office in New York. Friday was scheduled to be his last day. However, according to the Glen Falls Post Star, Justice Feeder has decided not to resign, citing an oral agreement to keep the conduct case private that the commission purportedly broke by releasing information to the media. "They [the commission] said, 'Sure, great…it can all be done quietly,'" the judge's attorney, Lee Kindlon, of Kindlon & Shanks in Albany, told the Post Star. "Then the commission turned around and made it public." The commission's counsel and administrator, Robert H. Tembeckjian, denied the existence of any such agreement. "No member of the staff said any such thing to the judge or to his counsel or to anyone else representing the judge," Mr. Tembeckjian said. Mr. Kindlon could not be reached for comment.