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.

There is a primary election this Tuesday, Sept 18th. Voter turnout is expected to be low. You know what that means? It means YOUR VOTE COUNTS. Far more than usual. And many of the races that actually are competitive are ones for judgeships...which can be among the most important positions we vote for. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!

There are contested primary races in every borough except (I think) Staten Island. You can find a brief rundown on what is at stake on Tuesday at the DFNYC website. But I only know about my local Brooklyn races. Here are the races I know of that are at least somewhat competitive, and so are really quite critical that people vote. YES...YOUR VOTE COUNTS! If people know of others, please mention them in the comments.

Although I am back from vacation, the lab I work in just moved from downtown NYU to the NYU Medical Center (where I used to work!). So I still can barely catch up politically.

But since I have been following the Brooklyn Surrogate judge race, I want to remind people that when Vito Lopez suddenly pulled Shawndya Simpson out of thin air to run against Diana Johnson (the candidate endorsed by reform and progressive democrats), many speculated (myself included!) that Vito's real goal was to split the black vote so that Leo Beitner (seemingly a more logical ally for Vito) would win with the white vote. When I proposed this, I pointed out that there were clear ways in which this can be disproven prior to the primaries. One was was if Beitner drops out.

Rumors of his dropping out circulated before, but one always has to be careful of such rumors because false rumors of that sort are a typical tactic in Brooklyn politics. But I have been informed that Beiter did not file petitions, which means he dropped out. Which means it is down to Diana Johnson and Shawndya Simpson. Which indicates that the "split the black vote" theory is disproven.

UPDATED AT BOTTOM

There has been much speculation as to who Vito Lopez, head of the corrupt Democratic Party machine in Brooklyn, would back for surrogate judge this year. For those who don't know him, Vito Lopez was the choice to succeed Clarence Norman as head of the Brooklyn Democratic Party after Norman was convicted of corruption and sent to jail. Lopez was not an outsider during Norman's corrupt tenure, nor is he free of corruption himself, as I wrote about some time ago (see a run down of Loepz's most obvious corruption here).

Now Vito Lopez, our Corrupt Leader, has decided to weigh in on the Surrogate race.

UPDATE AT BOTTOM

Thursday May 31st is the endorsement meeting for this year's Judicial elections at the Independent Neighborhood Democrats (IND). Last week was the endorsement meeting of Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID) and in preparation for it I discussed my own feelings on the various races and afterwards I discussed what happened at the meeting.

This week, in preparation for the IND meeting, I want to mention a few endorsements, including presenting a letter my wife helped write, but signed by several people, endorsing Devin Cohen for Civil Court Judge, 6th Judicial District. I will start with my wife's letter, quoted in full:

As you know, CBID will be voting tonight to endorse a candidate in the election for Civil Court Judge, 6th Judicial District. We would like to ask you to support Devin Cohen for that position.

So my goal of sitting out the 2007 elections in NYC is now out the window. I have had many conversations about the Brooklyn judicial elections and, in preparation for the CBID and IND endorsement meetings coming up this week and next week, I want to take two stands. I am tentatively supporting Diana Johnson for the second surrogate seat in Brooklyn and I am supporting Devin Cohen for 6th Civil Court.

NOTE: I am getting emails and calls on this article and am updating as good points are made

As the rest of the nation looks ahead to 2008, and much of NYC is already looking to the apocalyptic 2009 elections, Brooklyn has some judicial races coming up that are proving to be interesting for those of us who are obsessed with local politics. One of those races is for a position that never should have existed, but now that it does, it needs to be freed from the grip of the local corrupt machine.

I know no one who is mourning the departure of Kings County’s second Surrogate judge Seiddio. Rather many suggest he never should have been there in the first place because he never was even remotely qualified except as a loyal tool of the machine (UPDATE: One person says he thinks Seddio has practiced probate law in private practice, which would certainly be a qualification beyond mere cronyism. I have not been able to confirm this, so far finding only bankruptcy law listed for Seddio, but it certainly is possible). And many say the position he filled, a second Surrogate judicial position in Kings County, should never have been created either.