Paterson stuck with all-male list of candidates to lead Court of Appeals
The New York Daily News bY GLENN BLAIN - January 2, 2009
ALBANY - Gov. Paterson said he has no choice but to use a flawed list of candidates to pick a new leader for the state's highest court. Paterson said he's frustrated the Commission on Judicial Nomination did not include a woman among its seven candidates to lead the Court of Appeals, but he must use its list. "I don't see constitutionally any way that I can't," Paterson told reporters. Paterson has until Jan. 15 to replace Chief Judge Judith Kaye, who retired last month. He said he will begin interviewing candidates next week. "In spite of my frustration at that [commission], who I think was more political than any political club I've ever seen, I will comply," Paterson said. The 12-member commission was created by a constitutional amendment and was intended to replace elections with a merit selection system. It is made up of four appointees of the governor, four by the court's chief judge and one each from the legislative leaders. Angered by its failure to include any women among the candidates, Paterson last month asked state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to review his legal options. gblain@nydailynews.com
Patrson is not stupid.
ReplyDeleteHe must know what is going on.
I guess when it comes to election time they are going to abandon him.
I hope the voters do not.
The governor might have been "stuck" with the list he has, but he's quite fortunate to have Teddy Jones on it. Jones is no fool- he's been around the block a few times and he knows exactly what's going on and exactly WHO is responsible. Jones is tough, but fair. Deserving heads will role when Governor Paterson appoints Chief Judge Theodore T. Jones, Jr. as the person to start the long needed clean up of the disgraceful OCA.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget to throw a Misprison of Felony charge at Shana Diane Madoff, a New York admitted attorney employed by Bernard L. Madoff Investments. (She got her law license in 1997 and graduated from Fordham)
ReplyDeleteWhat the hell is Paterson waiting for..... appoint a new Cheif Judge NOW.... we've had Judith Kaye-OS for long enough. Give us anyone, but Lippman, and let's get started with a real court system.
ReplyDeletemy vote is for peter zimroth. not connected to any party and has been more than willing to speak out against corruption in the courts.
ReplyDeleteCROCODILE TEARS FROM PATERSON AND CUOUMO
ReplyDeleteIt appears that Paterson and Cuomo may be only PRETENDING to be "frustrated" with the "list" of nominees,and not sincerely interested in finding nominees outside of the list.
Paterson cannot be legally beholden to a corrupt agency. In my letter to the Commission for Judicial Nominations, I showed that Lippman has been granting illegal favors in exchange for nomination.
I sent this letter to Paterson and his dad, but received only an irrelevant form letter from the Executive office.
If Paterson or Cuomo would use my letter information to conduct an investigation, the nomination committee would be shown to be crooked and Paterson would be free of their restrictions.
When I contacted Fred Brewington (Paterson's man on the commission) about the corruption in his commission, he left a message on my phone, telling me that he would shred the letter and asking me not to give him any more information! (That answer will be posted on the web.)
Here s a letter I sent to Basil Paterson.
To: Basil Paterson Esq
Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, P.C
Fax: (516) 741-6706 December 8, 2008
Dear Mr. Paterson,
Integrity in the Courts is a group of New York State citizens devoted to shining sunlight on the culture of corruption that undermines the New York State Judiciary.
Our members include a First Department Disciplinary Committee Staff Attorney who was fired for exposing corruption at the DDC, several lawyers who have been sanctioned through DDC vendettas, State employees and others whose lives and faith in Government have been shattered by rampant corruption in our courts. We have the expressed endorsement of sitting and retired State Judges, who are eager to testify on our behalf. Each of us has exhausted every governmental avenue of redress available in New York State, and have found that there is a gaping hole at the top of the pyramid of accountability. The buck stops nowhere.
We all believe that Governor Paterson is a man of integrity, and we are hopeful that when circumstances allow, he will do his best to remedy this terrible state of affairs. We also recognize that to some degree, the Governor’s hands are tied by the State constitution and by committees appointed by his predecessors.
We suspect that Governor Patterson may not be fully aware of the depth of corruption of the New York Judiciary and its innumerable ramifications. How did corrupt and illegal dealings in the First Department Commercial Division contribute to the financial crisis? Judge Herman Cahn, the very judge who committed numerous felonies in my case, regularly makes decisions in multi-billion dollars cases. I have absolute proof of felonies committed by Judge Cahn, but not only was Judge Cahn exonerated by the Commission on Judicial Conduct (without any investigation); all records of the criminal case against him with the District Attorney mysteriously disappeared from the DA’s files, and the Attorney General won’t even accept my complaint.
We have incontrovertible evidence of wholesale systemic corruption in the so-called “oversight committees”, the DDC and the CJC, and we believe that the lack of oversight engenders the rampant corruption in every quarter of the judiciary. No one can stop criminals from having bad intentions, but an effective police force persuades most people not to commit crimes. Likewise, we would not have to deal with the plague of attorney and judicial corruption if we had functional oversight agencies. The current oversight committees are worse than ineffectual, they are tools of the corrupt attorneys and judges. We believe that this is one of the most insidious and destructive crises in New York State today. We know who the key players are, and we have the evidence against them, but we are stymied at every turn by State officials who are either too intimidated to act or are themselves complicit.
Our organizations is making real progress in our discussions with federal authorities to establish federal monitoring of the oversight committees, but we would prefer to see Governor Paterson establish a State Commission on Judicial and Attorney misconduct composed of impeccable, empowered, thoroughly vetted and non-conflicted citizens.
The enclosed letter demonstrates clear evidence of corruption in the Judicial Nomination Commission. It discusses the Law Firm of Richard Ware Levitt; a five member law firm with well known mob ties which has been receiving illicit favors and protection from Judge Jonathan Lippman over the past several years. These favors came directly from Judge Lippman and through his appointee to the Disciplinary Committee Allan Friedberg. After all of my letters to Judge Lippman and the DDC regarding these illicit favors were ignored, I decided to contact the Judicial Nomination Commission, believing they would investigate my claims.
I was horrified to discover that Gerald B. Lefcourt, a de facto partner in the Law Offices of Richard Ware Levitt, is a veteran member of the Commission. Even if there is no quid pro quo here (favors for nomination) there is certainly a glaring appearance of conflict of interest. A member of a law firm with proven illegal favors from a judge should not be on the Committee charged with nominating that judge. I sent the enclosed letter to the Commission expecting requests for more evidence, but I have heard not a word. Are illegal favors by nominees to Commission members so commonplace as to not raise an eyebrow?
Recently, Governor Paterson decried the lack of diversity of nominees for Chief Judge. The JNC included no women or Latinos not because they couldn’t find any with qualifications, but because they couldn’t find any women or Latinos willing to sell their soul for the old-boy lawyer mafia.
Integrity in the Courts begs you to bring the enclosed letter to the attention of Governor Paterson and law enforcement agencies, and to help arrange a meeting with an appropriate agency. We have documented evidence of many other improprieties by judges and attorneys at high levels of the Judiciary. It is ironic and troubling that we can arrange a meeting with the House Judiciary Committee, but cannot find redress in our own beloved State.
Respectfully,
William Galison
Integrity in the Courts
Mr. Paterson did not even acknowledge this letter, let alone thank me for exposing corruption that is vexing his son. Why?
I am hoping that I am wrong about Paterson, but his behavior indicates that he is in bed with (or frightened of) the Commission/ I hope he roves me wrong, but actions speak louder than words.
I can give Cuomo the evidence to prove that the Nomination Commission is corrupt, but do not appeared to be interested. They seem to just want to appear to complain to to placate the groups that demand more diversity.
Why so much clamor to have a woman on the list for Chief Judge????
ReplyDeleteWhat have the girls contributed so far???
[Judy Kaye, Sandra Day, Ruthie Ginsburg?]
Huh?
You can`y argue that point about the girls. The problem is,it is no longer about the best person for the job. It is about making people feel warm and fuzzy about how everyone is so fair and all are included. It is a load of crap and the country is suffering greatly because of it.
ReplyDeleteSorry ! The godamned LAST words I would ever use to describe NYS judiciary is warm and fuzzy.
ReplyDeleteUnlike those responsible, I WOULD rather feel good than look good.
Listen up here...Who cares if a woman or a man gets the position of Chief Judge...as long as they do the right thing and stop the corruption in its tracks...Here comes Judge Jones!!!!!!!Brilliant, Honest, Sincere, Forthright and has a conscience, that's what matters.
ReplyDeleteLet's lead the nation. Start a precedent. Let's appoint a CHILD to the position. Yeah! The younger the better.
ReplyDeleteIf Jones gets in, we should know very quickly where he stands.
ReplyDeletef he is not a puppet, the first thing he will do is to investigate Lippman and his gang, inclluding Friedbeg and the DDC.
As a woman speaking, I could care less about having one in charge again...since the last 16 yrs have proven to be a massive disaster with the witch we just got rid of.
ReplyDeleteWomen in the judiciary..where I worked for 30 yrs....were at best...mediocre. They have no known group to support their efforts, if they do attempt change or reform. The men of politics that put them there, control them like puppets.
All these female judges that have chaired the gender and discrimination panels were weak and useless and in the 20 something years OCA has had these pitiful, name only panels in effect. These female judges have done what OCA asks of them...take the complaints and cover them up.
OCA uses women and minorities to mask their obvious game playing, because people think these two groups will sympathize and handle these sensitive cases...but as a judge in NY you are forced to play the old boys games...all the time...and these women always do without hesitation...don't know one who is really independent!
The same holds true of the domestic violence courts...handled by women and minorities...at the will and control of the men of OCA!
I have a story about a minority female judge, who handles domestic violence in upstate NY and who is guilty of some vicious slandering of a female employee who had no dealings with this judge. A male judge who worked heavily to get this lady judge elected, forced his own involvment into this case without purpose... and requested this judge to do him a favor. Their hopes were that this story coming from a minority judge would be believed without dispute in federal court and prove OCA'S ton of lies were to be believed because the source of them had experienced discrimination herself.
Unfortunately the story she chose to use was blatantly refutable and her coverup for that lie was starkly evident!
So...I say forget the woman judge thing..they are useless and forget the governor who wants to tax everything humans and cows do to function.
The state of NY will never police itself...stick with the feds...this governor is way tooooo political and he is ass kissing some NY criminals. He never responds to letters written to him by anyone....vote him out!
Good day !.
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