The NY Times, "Some judges and lawyers fear Judge Lippman..."

The Powers of New York

The New York Times  -  May 5, 2012

Influence in New York is now wielded by a larger and more diverse array of people. As part of a special issue of Metropolitan, here’s a look at who is at the top and who may be on the way, as identified by the reporters of The New York Times.

Jonathan LippmanNew York Courts

By WILLIAM GLABERSON

Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

The job of the state’s chief judge, Jonathan Lippman, who leads not only New York’s highest court but also its vast judicial bureaucracy, by definition comes with clout. But in Judge Lippman’s 11 years as the top administrator under the last chief judge,Judith S. Kaye, he learned his way around the halls of power. Three years into his tenure as Judge Kaye’s successor, Judge Lippman, 66, has used that savvy to become, in the eyes of many, a bigger player than she was outside the courtroom on policy, budgetary, administrative and legislative issues. Some judges and lawyers fear Judge Lippman because he knows the administrative machinery that court officials can use to punish and reward. New York’s liberal establishment has been largely neutralized as a source of criticism because he has staked out a progressive role, not only in individual cases, but also on causes like increasing state financing for lawyers who represent poor people. He is also a schmoozer who has had lunch with Donald Trump and breakfast with Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan. “He has a political sense to know where to push and what to push for,” said Vincent E. Doyle III, president of the State Bar Association. And when he calls, Mr. Doyle said, “he calls me Vinnie.”

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Preet BhararaFederal Court

By BENJAMIN WEISER

Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

In the past year, Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, has done more than anyone to affect New York’s political landscape — and he has never held elected office. As Manhattan’s chief federal prosecutor, Mr. Bharara, 43, is best known for his aggressive prosecution of Wall Street crime, but he has also won corruption convictions against State Senator Carl Kruger of Brooklyn, once the powerful chairman of the Senate Finance Committee; the lobbyist Richard J. Lipsky, a ubiquitous presence in Albany and City Hall; and four other defendants in a political bribery scandal. The mayoral aspirations ofComptroller John C. Liu have been hampered as Mr. Bharara investigateshis campaign finances. (Mr. Liu has not been accused of wrongdoing; his former campaign treasurer was indicted last month.) And in March, a former Yonkers councilwoman was convicted in another corruption case. Mr. Bharara also announced in March that a city contractor, Science Applications International Corporation, which ran the troubled CityTimeautomated payroll project, had agreed to pay $500 million as a penalty and restitution for what Mr. Bharara called one of the “largest and most brazen frauds ever committed against the city of New York.” The city plans to use its share, $466 million, to help fill its budget shortfall. Rose Gill Hearn, commissioner of the city’s Department of Investigation, which referred the CityTime case to Mr. Bharara and regularly sends corruption matters his way, said: “He reaches out: ‘Let’s meet.’ ‘Let’s talk.’ I think he understands that there are significant cases being generated by D.O.I., and he wants to do them.” 

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