Tonight was a fundraiser for my friend, Devin Cohen, candidate for Brooklyn's 1st Civil Court seat, co-sponsored by Lambda Independent Democrats, Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, and Independent Neighborhood Democrats, the three main community-based Democratic clubs in the district. The fundraiser was at the home of Harley Diamond and Jonathan Lovett. Assemblywoman Joan Millman, State Senator Velmanette Montgomery and district leaders Bill Saunders, Alan Fleishman and Jo Anne Simon all attended as did future City Council candidate Gary Riley. Forgive me if I left anyone out.

Also was my first chance to meet Isaac Gabriel Cohen, Devin's very mellow seeming 2-week old baby. Very cute! Already seems to have that magical "judicial temperment" that people are always talking about.

Many think it's kind of a shame that we elect our judges in a way that means they have to raise money and campaign like every other office, but that's the system we have, so, as with every other office, it is up to us to help out the good candidates. (Adapted from a snail mail invitation):

A coalition of three local, community-oriented Democratic clubs, Lambda Independent Democrats (LID), Independent Neighborhood Democrats (IND, where I'm on the board), and Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID, where my wife is an officer), join together to invite you to a summer garden party fundraiser of Devin Cohen, our endorsed candidate for Civil Court, 1st district:

Wed. July 9, 2008
6:30-8:30 PM
at the home of Harley Diamond and Jonathan Lovett
363 Washington Ave., Clinton Hill, Brooiklyn

Compare and contrast the two candidates:

DEVIN COHEN:
*Strong supporter and friend of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and equality
*Lifelong reform Democrat who has only supported and worked for Democratic candidates and causes
*Appeared before and endorsed by Lambda Independent Democrats

Last night was the monthly meeting of the Independent Neighborhood Democrats and was the evening when my wife and I got in all the petitions we were working on. Of course we could do more petitioning, but I think we will be taking a break from that to catch up on our regular lives. But something has struck me as I have petitioned in three separate Election Districts and talked to people petitioning in a good half dozen other districts. One candidate who I have been watching out for because he is running against a friend of mine seems missing.

Once again I find myself attacked for what I write here on Daily Gotham. Once again I am being told I don't know what I am talking about and that I am too harsh. And once again, I wonder about people's ability to read what I write and absorb facts.

I have heard first and second hand of several complaints about my coverage of judicial candidate Roger Adler, running against Devin Cohen (disclosure: Devin is a friend of mine) for the 1st Civil Court seat in Brooklyn. Few people dispute my portrayal of Devin Cohen as having solid integrity, intelligence and a devotion to the community that goes beyond what most of us can do. There is some legitimate dispute as to which candidate has more appropriate experience: some conisder Adler more experienced because he has been a lawyer longer, but others consider Devin Cohen more appropriately experienced because he has more actual trial experience and more experience is Civil Court, the seat they are competing for. Almost everyone agrees that both candidates are qualified for the job, but may differ on their relative experience. All of this is legitimate dispute over two candidates.

Once again let me remind people that judicial races are at least as important as any other local election. Judges determine the fates of citizens more directly than any other elected position. We need good judges and we need judges we can trust.

This is a follow-up diary to one I wrote earlier about the 1st Civil Court District in Brooklyn. This year a friend of mine (Devin Cohen) is running. His opponent is Roger Adler. Both are good, smart lawyers who are fully qualified to be judge. Adler has been practicing law longer than Devin, but Devin Cohen has more actual civil court experience. So it comes down to a question of temperment and trustworthiness. In my earlier article I addressed both issues. But I have found out more about Roger Adler, who claims to be a Democrat with progressive values, yet I discover that by far his largest contributions are to some of the most conservaitve organizations and politicians in NY State.

The most neglected part of electoral politics is the election of judges. And yet in many ways more people are affected by who gets elected judge than any other elected position. The ignorance most people have about judicial candidates means that more often than not political bosses can shove any political crony they want into our court system regardless of qualifications. Did you know that although there is a screening panel there is no requirement for someone to even have practiced law in order to be a judge. This was dramatically demonstrated in 2007 when the Brooklyn political machine, including Vito Lopez, Marty Markowitz and Dominic Recchia, supported Noach Dear, a known homophobe, for judge despite the fact that the NY Bar Assn had declared him unqualified and he had never practiced law in his life. So now Brooklyn has a useless, homophobic judge on the bench just because local politicians wanted to give him a political plum. Our courts deserve better.

A strange sight was reported in Bushwick: Brooklyn Democratic Party Leader Vito Lopez was seen dancing in the streets and singing the praises of Justice Scalia.

Okay...so maybe Vito wasn't dancing and singing in the streets of Bushwick...but I am sure he was tempted. The Supreme Court just gave him a belated Christmas gift.

New York State has a system for choosing certain judges through an insider convention which basically allows party leaders to dominate the process, creating some pretty disgusting scandals, at least in Brooklyn (see, for example, here and here. The system basically made judgeships a political plum that party bosses could give out with little or no regard for qualifications or honesty. It also means that most people who get nominated for judicial spots have had to donate to the party boss.

Been thinking about the Brooklyn Surrogate race and many people have been talking to me about it. I know to non-insiders this seems like a minor thing, but in reality the Surrogate Judge, and all judges, are important elected positions and the fact that the machine's lock on appointing judges has majorly slipped is a very big deal.

My post-primary piece might have been a bit overly pessimistic, though I think fairly accurate. But the reform clubs are celebrating and for good reason. I put down the reform clubs a bit in my last piece, but honestly they did help swing the race for Diana Johnson and did hand Vito Lopez a solid defeat.

And it really was a solid defeat. Diana Johnson won with almost 60% of the vote. That means Vito Lopez and his machine lost about as decisively as you really ever expect in a judicial election. There was a time when Surrogate Judge was the machine's to give away like a plum. It was one of the bigger plums the machine could give.

[Editor's Note: All I did was suggest we get more bloggers out there reminding people to vote. Didn't realize I'd resurrect the (blogging) dead. Posted for Gatemouth by mole333...whoda thunk it]

At the request of Mole, I’ve come out of retirement for the rare cause on which we both agree.

The race between Noach Dear and Karen Yellen in Brooklyn’s 5th Mucicipal Court District is the most unambiguous choice available in this year's Brooklyn judicial elections, and it has been ignored for far too long in favor of a forest of dead trees written about the far more ambiguous Surrogate's race (I’m voting for Simspson, but to explain why would take more time than the race merits). Residents of Bay Ridge, Kensington, Sunset Park, Windsor Terrace, Dyker Heights, Borough Park and portions of adjoining communities should run, not walk, and vote early and often for Karen Yellen.