Jim Maisano: A Different Kind of Republican
By Michael Boyajian
When I first met Republican Jim Maisano it was before he had joined the Westchester County legislature. We got to talking about Ronald Reagan and that inevitably led to talk of the Iran Contra Affair. I pointed out the political symbolism of Oliver North standing before an investigative Congressional Committee in his Marine uniform with hand raised swearing to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Jim surprised me and said that what North had done was a disgrace to his uniform. Jim believed North was just using his uniform to stay out of jail not to project the ideal of Semper Fi, the famed Marine motto. You see Jim is what you call a clean Marine like the former Marine pilot, astronaut and U.S. senator John Glenn.
A seasoned litigator, Jim has represented New Rochelle and Pelham in the Westchester legislature for thirteen years as someone who is independent minded and bipartisan and a person that moves his colleagues on both sides of the aisle to find common ground. But that does not stop him from doing what he likes best and that is coaching his Little League Dodgers to the semi finals and spending time with his wife Jean, their son Michael and their two dogs Oakley and Marlee. Jim is also an avid World Cup follower and a dedicated Mets fan.
Jim disdains political hacks because he wants to make a difference and serve the public and not hold onto power for the sake of power. His judicial philosophy is such that he will be an independent judge who reviews the facts of a case in an objective manner and then applies the law as written respecting precedent. He will be respectful to attorneys and ensure that litigants have a fair and impartial review of their case and he will expedite cases. His favorite judges are John Marshall, Felix Frankfurter and Antonin Scalia.
Jim graduated from Hunter College with a B.A. in History and got his law degree from the University of Buffalo. If his life to date is any indication of success he is well on his way to becoming a Supreme Court Justice for Westchester's Ninth Judicial District.
End