Reproduced with permission of The Journal News.
Judge candidate frustrated over lack of primary
By HANNAN ADELY
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: July 8, 2004)
The Greenburgh Town Board will vote July 14 to add a third judge to its court, but a Hastings-on-Hudson lawyer interested in running for the position is crying foul because that date is too late to allow for a primary election.
Judah Shapiro believes the board is purposely putting off a vote to avoid a primary. He said the board and Greenburgh Democratic Committee are trying to pave the way for their favored candidate, attorney James Hubert.
"Basically, it precludes us from running for office in a totally, totally unethical way," Shapiro said.
Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner said the legislation to create the post was signed too late, making it difficult to have a Town Board vote sooner than July 14.
In September, 9th Judicial District Administrative Judge Francis Nicolai gave approval for Greenburgh to hire a third, part-time judge to improve efficiency in the court, which has suffered from a huge backlog of traffic cases. The court was also under state review because of accounting lapses and financial irregularities.
Gov. George Pataki, though, did not sign the bill until June 30. The Town Board does not meet again until July 14, so to vote before that, it would have to hold a special meeting. Such a meeting would require a 48-hour notice.
Feiner said he supported holding a special meeting, but the consensus of the board, who met for a work session Tuesday, was that there would not be enough public notice.
If the Town Board voted to create a position for a third judge by tomorrow, individuals would have had until July 15 to file petitions to qualify for the primary. That would have been too short a time span, Feiner said.
"They would only have five or six days to get a thousand signatures, which is impossible," he said.
After the July 14 vote, district leaders will select a nominee at political party conventions to appear on the November ballot. Since Greenburgh is overwhelmingly Democratic, the Democratic candidate is usually a shoo-in. The position pays approximately $50,000 a year.
According to Shapiro, a litigation attorney, Democratic leadership on the Town Board and in the Democratic Committee favors James Hubert. Shapiro, 47, is a former vice chair of the Democratic Committee and a district leader.
Hubert, 52, a litigation attorney based in White Plains, ran in the Democratic primary for Greenburgh justice in 1999 and lost. Hubert, who lives in the Orchard Hill section of Greenburgh, is also a former assistant district attorney in Queens and a member of the Greenburgh Planning Board.
The executive committee of the Greenburgh Democratic Committee already voted on June 21 to endorse Hubert for the third judge position. There was nothing illegal about the vote, said Suzanne Berger, chair of the Democratic Committee.
The committee supported Hubert because of his experience as a high-ranking prosecutor and his demeanor, Berger said.
Town Board member Steven Bass said, "What we're doing is the most fair process for all candidates of all parties."
Bass also said it would be too difficult for people to get 1,000 valid signatures by July 14.
"Everybody still has an equal opportunity to come before a convention of the party and present themselves to that convention," he said.
Shapiro said the most fair and democratic action would be to open the path for a primary. The town could have appealed to the Board of Elections to try and extend the amount of time petitions can be collected.
Feiner said he contacted the Board of Elections to get information about an extension but has not received a response.
"I can't imagine why you wouldn't try to support having a free election and an unbiased election," Shapiro said. "I think that's a public responsibility."
Reach Hannan Adely at hadely@thejournalnews.com or 914-694-3525.