[11 Sept. 09]

Party Screening Panel Reports

Civil Court Judges Deborah Kaplan, Matthew Cooper, and Ellen Gesmer were reported last night as the three "most highly qualified" of the twelve applicants [eleven lower court judges and one attorney] who appeared before the New York County Democratic Party's screening panel for the single State Supreme Court vacancy [the "Stackhouse" seat] in the First Judicial District [Manhattan].

They will be considered at the up-coming District judicial convention along with four other contenders [Laura Drager, Saliann Scarpulla, Cynthia Kern, Lucy Billings (Faviola Soto has withdrawn from consideration: "I'm happy being a Court of Claims Judge.")] under the "2/4" rule. Further information and the names of the screening panelists will be listed in a subsequent Flacks Report.

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Lewis Off the Ballot

Civil Court candidate Anna Lewis will not be on the ballot in this September's Primary election, leaving Lynn Kotler unopposed in Manhattan district three. This morning in an unanimous decision, the seven-member Court of Appeals in Albany denied Lewis's motion for leave to appeal, leaving intact the Appellate Division's decision ruling her off the ballot.