| Letter To Cross-Endorsed Nominees
September 27, 2005
Honorable Jonathan Lippman
Chief Administrative Judge
Office of Court Administration
25 Beaver Street
NYC, NY 10004
Honorable Joseph Alessandro
Westchester County Court
111 Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd.
White Plains, NY 10601
Re: Illegal Quid Pro Quo Judicial Nominations Agreement
Gentlemen:
We were most shocked to learn that you have accepted the nomination as a Supreme Court Justice implementing, at the respective Judicial Nominating Conventions held last night, the terms of the judicial cross-endorsement nomination agreement entered into by Rosemarie Panio, Westchester County Republican leader and her Democratic counterpart, Reginald Lafayette, brokered by Dr.Giulio Cavallo, leader of the Independence Party, all in violation of §17-158 of the NYS Election Law, the NYS Constitution, the Code of Judicial Conduct and the public policy of the State of New York.
We call upon you both to rescind your acceptances of the nominations of the two (2) major parties in the Ninth Judicial District in accordance with the pertinent provisions of the Election Law.
Absent such action promptly, you will leave us no recourse but to report this criminal conduct to the appropriate criminal and disciplinary authorities for enforcement of the penal provisions of the aforesaid Election Law provision, expressly making the contracting parties and, impliedly, the judicial beneficiaries of their invidious contract, “guilty of a felony.” As former NYS Court of Appeals Associate Judge Richard Simon aptly stated in 1991, when I appeared before him in the historic case of Castracan v. Colavita, et. al., wherein, as pro bono counsel for a grass-roots group called the 9th Judicial Committee, headed by Eli Vigliano, Esq., I challenged the infamous 1989 Three-Year Deal, in which the then 9th Judicial District Republican and Democratic Party
Honorable Jonathan Lippman September 27, 2005 Page Two
Honorable Joseph Alessandro
leaders traded seven (7) judgeships over a three year period by guaranteed election: “It is elementary law, learned by every first year law student, that ‘a promise for a promise is valuable consideration.’ ” As such, judgeship trading via the major party cross-endorsement route must be condemned under the proscription of Election Law §17-158.
Finally, please be on notice that we may also be compelled to institute legal action, including, but not limited to, initiating an action in federal court under §1983 of the U.S. Code to vindicate the voting rights of the effectively disenfranchised electors of the 9th Judicial District, naming all parties, as well as accessories, to the crime as defendants.
Yours for a quality judiciary,
DORIS L. SASSOWER, Director
cc.: Anthony Scannapieco, Chairman, Putnam County Republican Party
cc.: Kenneth Harper, Chairman, Putnam County Democratic Party
|
