I want to give both my endorsements for Tuesday's primary as well as the endorsements from some of the organizations I respect. First my endorsements:

Brooklyn's 1st Civil Court Seat: Devin Cohen

Devin is the clear choice in this case, and not just because he is a friend of mine. Devin Cohen has extensive civil court experience while his opponent has mainly criminal and appellate law experience. Devin is widely known for his fairness and honesty as well as his commitment to the community as a volunteer EMT. My wife has known Devin since high school. And I once called him, long before he was running for judge, the most honest person I know in Brooklyn politics. His opponent is best known politically for his donations to and legal help for both Brooklyn party boss Clarence Norman (currently serving a prison sentence for corruption) and for the Conservative Party. Devin is politically best known for his work on Community Board 6, his dedication to reform politics in Brooklyn, and as former president of the Independent Neighborhood Democrats. Roger Adler has also run an exclusively negative campaign, trying to smear Devin Cohen as if Adler has nothing positive to offer himself. Adler has claimed to be the outsider, an despite having donated to Clarence Norman AND done Norman's legal work despite the fact that the county party bound his petitions. Devin is known to have been a voice for judicial reform so Adler basically lied about their relative political connections. Adler also admitted, in my presence and before an entire room full of people, that he in essence tried to get a judgeship through political donations and political favors. This is what he said publicly, I checked with others who heard him and they agreed. He also expressed admiration for the judicial philosophies of Supreme Court justices Scalia and Thomas, who are about as conservative as you can get.  read more »

As the Democratic Primary draws near (Sept. 9th!) some more people are speaking out on the First Civil Court race in Brooklyn. I want to offer up the opinion of the Brooklyn Papers and Lambda Independent Democrats on Roger Adler and Devin Cohen (the two candidates running). Let me remind our readers of my standard disclaimer: one of the candidates, Devin Cohen, is a friend of mine, so I am biased.

That said, most people seem deeply disturbed by Roger Adler's anti-gay stands, ties to the Conservative Party, ties to jailed former machine head, Clarence Norman, and his public admission that he openly participates in a pay to play political system. By contrast people seem to like Devin Cohen for his even temperment and honesty. From what I can tell, Devin Cohen has practically all the endorsements while Roger Adler has more money.

The Brooklyn Paper has a pretty good rundown on both candidates. To quote:  read more »

Just confirmed two rumors I had heard: my friend Devin Cohen, running for the 1st Civil Court seat in Brooklyn, has been endorsed by Stonewall Democrats and by City Councilman Bill deBlasio.

I still have not been able to find any confirmation of any endorsements for Roger Adler.

The endorsements for Devin Cohen are beginning to become pretty impressive. Both Independent Neighborhood Democrats and Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats endorsed him...and they don't always agree (see, for example, their split on Towns vs. Powell this year in the NY-10 Congressional race). Add to that William Saunders' 57th A.D. Regular Democratic Organization, which I have no direct connection to. Then there are the two main Gay and Lesbian organizations, Lambda Independent Democrats and Stonewall Democrats. I'd call that a formidable combination of organizations each of which will be reaching out to its membership to get out the vote. How many organizations have endorsed Adler? I haven't found any yet.  read more »

This comes from another friend of Devin Cohen's:

Friends and Neighbors:

Please join me on Wednesday, July 30, 2008 to meet and support Devin P. Cohen, candidate for Civil Court Judge in Brooklyn. Devin was a law school classmate of mine and is a good friend. He is smart and hard-working and has been actively involved in a number of progressive political causes in Brooklyn. He will make an excellent judge.

Civil Court judges play a critical role in the life of New York City. Many of the litigants who appear in Civil Court can't afford lawyers and must represent themselves. Many are recent immigrants. It is imperative that the judges who hear their cases be patient, intelligent and dedicated. Devin is the right person for the job.

Judicial campaigns are expensive undertakings. Those of us who want well-qualified, independent judges must do our part by supporting good candidates.  read more »

Devin Cohen, candidate for Broklyn's 1st Civil Court in the September 9th primary, has announced two new endorsements: Congresswoman Yvette Clarke and City Councilman David Yassky. All he needs is a Chris Owens endorsement and Devin will have three-of-a-kind from the 2006 CD-11 Congressional race that divided the district so much. Since Devin already got the endorsement of CBID, the club that Chris is now the president of, in some ways Devin already has unified the CD-11 candidates behind him. This brings Devin's endorsement list to the following:

# Congresswoman Yvette Clarke
# Assemblymember Joan Millman
# Assemblymember Jim Brennan
# State Senator Velmanette Montgomery
# State Senator Martin Connor
# Councilmember Letitia James
# Councilmember David Yassky
# District Leader Alan Fleishman
# District Leader JoAnne Simon
# District Leader William Saunders
# Independent Neighborhood Democrats
# Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats
# Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn
# 57th A.D. Regular Democratic
Organization  read more »