Judicial Convention Picks Gische and . . .

THE FLACKS REPORT
[September 2008]

Katz Gets final Endorsement---69th A.D. State Committee Final---Landis Not running---Judicial Convention Picks Gische

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Katz Garners C.F.D. Endorsement

Michael L. Katz, running County-wide in Manhattan for a Civil Court seat against Nancy Bannon, gained the last club endorsement before the Primary election. At Community Free Democrats, Inc., the vote was 29 for Katz, 13 for Bannon, and 2 No Endorsement.

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69th A.D. State Committee Final

All sides (Hirsch campaign, Ginsberg campaign, Board of Elections) agree that Larry Hirsch won the official voting machine count by a margin of 107 votes, 2784 to 2677. After about 250 paper and BMD machine votes were counted, Hirsch was about 60 votes ahead of Bob Ginsberg. The official tally should be certified at next Tuesday's Commissioners' meeting.
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Landis Not Running

West Side D.L. Marc Landis has decided not to seek the N.Y.C. City Council seat to be vacated by Gail Brewer when her term is up.

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Judicial Convention Picks Gische

N.Y.C. Civil Court Judge Judith Gische was chosen last night (18 Sept. '08) at the Democratic Party's First Judicial District (Manhattan) nominating convention to be one of the four Party nominees for Justice of the State Supreme Court on the November 2008 General Election ballot. The Democratic nomination is tantamount to election in Manhattan.
Gische defeated Civil Court Judge Lucy Billings by a 65-to-61 vote. There was also one vote cast for Saliann Scarpulla. Scarpulla along with Laura Drager, Debra James, Ellen Gesmer, and Cynthia Kern--all lower court judges--were also nominated for the vacancy created by Justice Louis York's reaching the mandatory retirement age, but then, lacking sufficient delegate support, they withdrew their candidacies leaving the contest to Billings and Gische.
Incumbent Justices Marcy Kahn, Shirley Werner Kornrerich, and Martin Schoenfeld were unopposed in seeking the Party's designation, and will also appear on the November ballot.

"Ne dites pas 'Après moi, le déluge!';
mais 'pendant mon regne, le déluge est déjà arrivé.'" ---Geo. W. Bush

This riposte (see below) to D.L. Dankberg's missive was only recently received. I was not aware of it, and a number of you kindly brought it to my attention. For balance, it is printed here. /s/Alan Flacks

"Dear Louise,First off, congratulations on your recent victory for Nancy Bannon.While I was saddened to learn that Michael Katz who I had supportedviogorously did not succeed; nonetheless, you should be commended forsticking to your guns and succeeding in a tough fought race.I understand your concern about judicial candidates sending outletters with district leaders listed as support for certain judicialcandidates, or confusion whether certain district leaders endorsed ordid not endorse a certain judicial candidate. But, Louise, correctme if I am wrong, this practice has gone on for quite some timeand should not be blamed on this year's candidates.Candidates for all offices whether it be City Council or Supreme Courttarget district leaders, Dem. club members, county committee members,judicial delegates, etc. in trying to obtain support. They make phonecall after phone call, corner you at a political fundraiser and oftenit is annoying and perhaps harrasing. But Louise, if I recall yousupported an unnamed male candidate for Supreme Court many years agowho also sent letters listing every district leader and electedofficial supporting his candidacy, and this candidate also was quiteenergetic to say the least and quite aggressive and quite assertive inhis candidacy. And I don't blame such candidate for doing so. Butplease don't unfairly use one set of standards when a candidate yousupport uses it and get offended when a candidate you do not supportuses the same tactics.The bottom line is I don't think we can set guidelines for how judicialcandidates can campaign; that would be going against ourConstitutional right to free speech.Warm Regards,Adam SilveraDemocratic District Leader, Downtown Independent Democrats