Long Island judicial races heat up

Dozens of judgeships for spots on the State Supreme Court and other courts on Long Island are up for election Tuesday.

While the races span the range of courts serving Nassau and Suffolk counties, including County Court and Family Court, the Supreme Court contests typically get the most attention.

This year, 12 candidates are seeking six Supreme Court seats. Justices are elected from a district that covers Nassau and Suffolk counties. The judges have 14-year terms and primarily hear civil cases, although some preside over criminal courtrooms and others serve in the Appellate Division.

Three justices are running for re-election, and all of them now serve on the Appellate Division. They are Democrat Leonard Austin and Republicans Peter Skelos and James Catterson. All were first elected to this court in 1998. Skelos is the brother of State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) and Catterson is the son of the late James Catterson Jr., a former Nassau County attorney and Suffolk district attorney.

Others running on the Republican and Conservative lines are Joy Watson, a former Nassau homicide prosecutor and now a deputy Nassau County comptroller; Rudolph Cartier, an attorney from Mount Sinai; Christopher Quinn, a Nassau County Court judge who oversees the county's District Court, and Gary Weber, a longtime Suffolk County Court judge.

Others running on the Democratic and Working Families lines are John Leo, the Huntington Town attorney; Richard Ambro, a former Suffolk County Court judge who is law secretary to Suffolk's administrative judge; Leonard Steinman, a member of the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, the county's fiscal control board; Sondra Pardes, a Nassau District Court judge, and Hope Zimmerman, a Nassau Family Court judge who supervises the county's divorce courts.

The Independence Party has endorsed Leo, Austin, Ambro, Steinman, Pardes and Skelos.