Category: News and Opinion

Most New Yorkers only notice local judges when there is a very high profile case. Which partially explains why so few voters take part in the only elections where they have a direct say in choosing judges. Over the years, I’ve found that even many people working in politics are poorly informed about the election of Civil Court Judges and the many ways it differs from other elections.

So, here’s a  primer on the confusing system.

There are five types of local judges in New York City. Only the Civil Court and Surrogate Court judges are selected directly by voters in Party primaries and then in General Elections. Surrogate judges are so few (just 7 in NYC) and their elections are even more different than others that I’m only going to write about Civil Court here.

I’ve long believed that one of the best ways to predict a politician’s future behavior is to get a handle on what their fundamental values are. In some cases, this is difficult, as the candidates have no values other than “what’s in it for me?” or “any weapon to hand”. Thanks to the fertile memory of Errol Lewis, voters in Brooklyn’s 20^th Senatorial District will have a chance to ponder deeply into the meaning of what State Senate candidate Eric Adams meant by comments which appeared in the March 26, 1995 edition of the New York Daily News, and once digested they may want to ask what those statements indicate about the values Mr. Adams embraces.

In the spring, it is said that a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love. In New York City politics, however, the change of seasons is more likely to bring upon thoughts of endorsements by political clubs. In reality, the young man’s fancy is less likely to be focused upon hearts and flowers, and more likely to be concentrated upon the ways and means of getting laid. In reality, the political club’s focus is less likely to be implemented by means of elevated debates about the great issues of public policy and political philosophy, and more likely to be focused upon the necessity of packing club memberships to ensure the desired results. In both scenarios, the likelihood is that someone is going to get screwed.  

Rock Hermon Hackshaw

Ten years ago, Bill Clinton signed into law an anti-terrorism measure, that has turned out to be one of the worst pieces of legislation impacting on the Caribbean and Latin-America. One of its provisions included repatriating immigrants-both legal and undocumented- for  infractions here. It also expanded deportation programs which targeted those undocumented, even though undocumented aliens are amongst the most law-abiding (with the obvious exceptions, of course) of people living here. Within a year, some were deported for as simple a thing as jumping the subway turnstile in New York City. Initially, there were many who seemed to see no problem in all this, after all, if you are residing in a host country, it behooves you to obey the law – probably, even moreso than if you were still residing in the country of your birth. Well, not really. Only one country saw the deeper problem that this new policy would manifest. That country was Argentina.

From Saturday’s Daily News

The increases announced Thursday by the New York City Housing Authority average 10% to 44% over two years and would affect families with annual gross incomes of more than $20,000.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer agreed the hikes would be a hardship. "These are the poorest people in the city," he said.

Councilman Hiram Monserrate and some other Queens’ pols are seizing on the Independent Budget Office report that the city low-balled its estimates of the real cost to taxpayers of a new stadium for the Mets.

But don’t be fooled into thinking Monserrate and the others are friends of us taxpayers. Since the stadium is going to cost more than advertised, the pro-taxpayer position would be to fight to cut the City’s subsidy to the Mets. Instead these opponents to the Mets want to increase the amount of taxpayers’ dollars spent by forcing the City and the Mets to spend more on “community benefits”. Remember a fact not mentioned by the pols that are trying to shake down the Mets is that every dollar the Mets spend on Little League diamond that Monserrate wants is tax deductible!

One doesn’t have to be a friend of Al D’Amato to think that this NY Times story about Bill Weld and Al is unfair to D’Amato – starting with the headline – Hints of Truth-Stretching in Weld-D’Amato Feud and continuing throughout.

The premise that both Weld & D’Amato are not telling the whole truth is probably technically correct. But whereas Al is wrong about a relatively minor point – when they first met, Mr. Weld is shown to be telling whoppers about everything else. He is wrong about when Al gave him money, about how much money Al gave him and about whether Al threatened him.

During the transit strike, defenders of the TWU when asked why the union was striking while other municipal unions did not strike even as negotiations dragged on for years, fell back on one defense – that the TWU had a policy of no contract – no work. Now even at the time, this was a pretty weak argument for so called progressives to make – "tradition requires a strike". But now, as we are in the 5th month of no contact, I’m wondering what happened to no work? Even the anti-Toussaint militants aren’t demanding an immediate strike . Has this important policy gone the way of the token?

Last week I took a deserved "spring break", since being out of the city for a bit is always re-invigorating. Thanks for the e-mails and phone-calls from those of you who missed me here and were concerned. I am fine , except for a lil hypertension- which is genetic. I must admit that I was surprised (and no, Gatemouth wasn’t one of them), it tells me that people are reading "Room 8". So let’s take our hats off to Ben Smith and Gur Tsabar. Real pioneers in this day and age.

I walked right in to the poll showing Spitzer still leading big, and yes I am a bit taken aback that Suozzi hasn’t cracked the twenty- percentile as yet. I am still hopeful though. I hate coronations even more than I hate royalty. I like a good old- fashioned horse race. After all, in November we democrats will be all lining up behind our nominee, to ensure that another Republican like Pataki ( "Potato-head") doesn’t trick us anymore. 

In researching my three part series on the race for the Democratic nomination in the 11^th Congressional District, I came across a remarkable document which bears discussion. It is a “10-point reform plan” for the Kings County Democratic Party written by Congressional candidate Chris Owens. The plan is interesting not so much for what it says about Owens (nothing not already suspected), as for what it says about “reformers”. In undertaking an uphill and not unmerited battle for reform of the Kings County Democratic Party, would-be reformers are well advised to first do two things: 1) Get Your Facts Straight, and 2) Get Your Goals Straight. The Owens document fails on both counts.