Primaries are good things when you have two qualified candidates each of whom would be able to respectably do the job. Primaries are beyond good things however, they are necessary things, when one candidate is substantially superior to the other.
Town Judges Katz and Schneer meet the later situation.
The fact that Deborah Schneer won the Democratic convention is indicative of political support in a political committee. Her vic
tory can be attributed to multiple factors: She may have appeared better in front of local committees; people like an underdog and she was the underdog; she is a woman . . . who knows.
The reality is though that Governor Paterson cannot delegate his Constitutional Duty to appoint judges to the Ulster County Democratic Committee. He needs to appoint the person who is best qualified for the job.
Judge Jonathan Katz handles a busy courtroom in New Paltz and has made a resp
ectable reputation for himself. He has a diverse group of defendants – particularly given the SUNY New Paltz issues that arise. Simply put, experience counts. Katz has more of it.
You can have incompetent legislators, administrators, and bureaucrats, but an incompetent Judge is a real problem because the consequences can be substantial. We hope the Governor does the right thing and nominates Jonathan Katz. If Ms. Schneer wants to then continue onto a primary, that’s fine as well, but we need the Governor to do the right thing with his constitutional duties. If the Governor delegates the responsibility of picking a Judge to party activists, he is simply not fulfilling his constitutional responsibilities.
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11 comments:
You are absolutely correct. I am beginning to think that we should skip conventions all together and go straight to petitions and primary.
The Wuss-stock and Rochester Committees were behind Schneer.
I understand that she is the "politically correct" choice - but she is not the most qualified choice.
I say Paterson should appoint and Katz should primary.
quals???what quals...10 yrs as an attorney is the only qual. most nyc and nys court of claims judges r political appts. this is not rocket science. ck out the village voice article on chief judge jonathan lippman....quals in ur dreams....
I was a Katz supporter, but if he doesn't have the fight in him to go up against Schneer in a primary, the Democrats are probably better off without him.
Schneer has had ZERO cases in her entire career as an attorney in County Court. How could anyone vote for someone to be the judge of County Court if they have never handled even one case in that court? She has not even handled a case there let alone take one to trial!!
This is a situation where the better candidate simply did not win.
I hope Stuart Fraser, Terry Rosenblum and the rest of the committee members who know NOTHING about what we need in a County Court Judge, let alone a candidate for the job, are proud of themselves. I wonder if they know that Judge Schneer has never tried a case as a JUDGE, let alone as an attorney. How do you think that will look on Don Williams' campaign literature?
Jon Katz is a gentleman and a loyal Democrat, thus the substantive fight ends. But, where do you think the Kingston/Ulster/New Paltz/Gardiner/Saugerties Democratic Committees will be putting their efforts?
What do you think people in Woodstock will do when one of their own - Hon. E. Michael Kavanaugh - endorses Don? How many Democrats are there in Rochester?
I can tell you that Rochester has a Republican Supervisor, and 2 Republican Town Councilmen giving the Republicans a majority in Town Politics.
The two Democratic Town Councilmen are up for re-election this year. However I think that the Republicans are going to give them (Tony Spano and Lynn Archer) a free ride. Thanks Marijane Knudsen (Rochester Republican Chairman). Great Job!
I wonder if the favor will be returned to Republican Town Councilmen Manuela Mihalescu and Tavi Cilenti next year when they are up for re-election?
Stuart Frasier knows everything that there is to know about Deborah Schneer. They both live in the Town of Rochester. Stuart just sold his house and is moving though. Stuart has been relentlessly pushing Schneer on the party. Thanks for the parting gift Stu!
Kinston Truth should get a blackberry.
Kingstontruth is gone. Someone who swears they know who it is told me they heard a rumor a few weeks ago that the administrator of that blog is leaving the area for health reasons.
Let's get something straight. It was more than Woodstock and Rochester that supported her because they do not have anywhere near the number of votes she received. People got pissed off at the convention because 1. Schreibman told them who to vote for and 2. He lied and said there was an appoinment when there was not. He got no indication that an appointment was imminent. He was lying. And what does it matter anyway? The appointment is good for five months and by the time the apointee shut down whatever practice they had, it probably was shorter than that. You right though about the committees, they are proven to be run and controlled by zealots who do not reflect the views of the parties they supposedly represent. Go right to primaries because they are useless. Who would vote for this woman. She has never stepped foot in the court she now wants to run and she has sued on behalf of prisoners, many of them violent felons, for most of her career. Laudable work, but not really who should be now deciding the prisoners fates in the face of real victims.
Can't say she won't have experience now! Paterson appointed her today.
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