Judge Marlene Budd hired by Suffolk as $147G unit chief

Hon. Marlene Budd, a former Suffolk County Family Court Judge, poses for a portrait at the Cohalan Court Complex in Central Islip on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015. Credit: James Escher
Suffolk Family Court Judge Marlene Budd, who lost a bid for re-election in November, will join the county attorney’s office in January as $146,708-a-year bureau chief of the real estate unit.
She will join former elected officials ex-Assemblyman Edward Hennessey and former Brookhaven Town board member Steve Fiore-Rosenfeld, now on the Suffolk County Attorney’s staff.
Budd, a Setauket resident, lost re-election after a Suffolk County Bar Association judicial screening committee initially balked at giving her a qualified rating. After an appeal to the bar’s board of directors, she was found qualified.
Budd, who served one term as a Huntington Town board member, is in the midst of divorcing her husband Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington).

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