Primary Lessons
September 19th, 2007
As little noticed as yesterday’s primary was, some observers are drawing lesson from the judicial races in Brooklyn. (For the latest results, including winners of party posts, go to Gotham Gazette’s 2007 primary results.) The Politicker sees it as “a split decision” yesterday for Brooklyn Democratic leader Vito Lopez, Noach Dear, who won his Civil Court seat, and Shawndya Simpson, who lost her bid for Surrogate Court judge.
Democratic consultant Scott Levenson told the blog that the winner in that Surrogate Court race, Diana Johnson, proved victorious “because she was more qualified and not the machine candidate,” giving hope to other insurgent candidates. (Given Johnson’s ties to the former Brooklyn party leader, Clarence Norman, this might be a bit of a stretch.)
The Politicker quotes anothe bbserver, identified as “Kilgore Trout” who notes that the candidates endorsed by the New York Times lost both the races. “Brooklyn is completely up for grabs by the non-institutional players,” according to Trout. “Neither the Times nor the party hold enough sway to be deciding factors these days.”
Along with the split decision for Lopez, the Daily Politics tallies the winners and losers. Among the winners: African American leaders not allied with Lopez who backed Johnson, the Daily News and Assemblymember Div Hikind “who set aside his long-simmering feud with Dear to endorse him in what many viewed as a calculated effort to get the former councilman out of the picture.” Losers include the New York Times, the Jewish Press, African American elected officials who backed Simpson, and the gay community, which tried to defeat Dear.
The Daily Gotham draws its own harsh lesson from Dear’s victory. As noted in Gotham Gazette, Dear has been accused of various ethical lapses and was “not approved” for the post by the bar association.
Writing in the blog, mole 333 slams his fellow Brooklynites for not showing up to vote against Dear. “’Judge Noach Dear’ will become the code word for what is wrong with Brooklyn, what is wrong with American democracy. Low voter turnout and voter apathy means you get homophobic, abysmally unqualified judges who get to be judges for purely political reasons,” the blogger writes. “[It] means the leadership of the Brooklyn Democrats, Vito Lopez and Marty Markowitz, can give a judgeship to someone who never practiced law and who is known to be anti-gay and the voters will do nothing about it. “
By Gail Robinson on September 19, 2007, 12:28 pmIn category: Electoral Politics, Gotham City, Governing, Law | 4 Comments »


September 24th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Just a note: I won the civil court race in the 6th judicial district. I was endorsed by the New YorK TImes, by the county and numerous political officials who are considered reformists so it is not just about county vs. insurgents, at least in this neck of the woods
September 24th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
Kathy Levin was found unqualified by the panel set up by Chief Judge Judith Kaye.
October 17th, 2007 at 12:31 am
So Dear is anti-gay.
The governor of Collyfornya said that the type of gay marriage he endorses is between a happy man and a happy woman.
He’s in the civil court, and it would be nice to be civil to him.
He represents his followers, and that’s more than can be said about so many other politicians.
November 13th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
FIRST of all, homophobic anti-gayness has NOTHING to do with Civil Court which is ruled by the merits of each case. What you people SHOULD be griping at is the total inept and unqualified background this individual now brings to our local justice system. Perhaps we should push for legislation that defines qualified experience aside from and unused law degree.