Supreme Court races top the list of judicial contests on Long Island
Contests for seven State Supreme Court judgeships are the marquee judicial races on Long Island Tuesday.
Also, 16 candidates are competing in Nassau for County and Surrogate's Court judgeships and three District Court posts.
In Suffolk, 20 candidates are vying for judgeships on Family Court and District Court.
The Supreme Court contests, with a total of 14 candidates competing for seven spots, are the only races in which all Long Island voters will have a say.
Four of the State Supreme Court candidates in the 10th Judicial District were cross-endorsed by the Nassau Republican and Democratic committees.
The Democrats' candidates are Robert McDonald, an attorney in private practice, and County Court Judge James McCormack, an acting Supreme Court justice since 2006.
Nassau Republicans are running Julianne Capetola, an acting Supreme Court justice since 2007, and Jack Libert, a former Oyster Bay public works and planning commissioner who is now an attorney in private practice.
In Suffolk, the Conservative and Democratic parties reached a similar cross-endorsement deal.
The parties are backing Democrats Robert Quinlan, a former town attorney in Brookhaven and Islip who is principal law clerk to Suffolk Chief Administrative Judge C. Randall Hinrichs; and William Ford, an acting County Court judge, and Conservative Party member Howard Heckman Jr., a referee in Supreme Court in Suffolk.
Heckman is the future father-in-law of Conservative Party Secretary Michael Torres, who is charged with concealing a prior criminal conviction on his Islip Town job application.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Suffolk Conservatives also gave their ballot line to Conservatives Janine Barbera-Dalli, a District Court judge in Smithtown, and Deborah Poulos, a Suffolk Family Court judge.
Independence Party members David Morris, a District Court judge in Islip, and Kathy Bergmann, the principal law clerk to Court of Claims Judge Stephen Lynch, also will run on the Conservative line.
Suffolk Republicans, who were left out of the cross-endorsement deal, are running Emily Pines, an incumbent Supreme Court justice; Patricia Filiberto, a district court judge in Islip and John Toomey Jr., currently a county court judge.
State Supreme Court justices serve 14-year terms and primarily oversee civil cases although some are assigned to criminal courtrooms and the Appellate Division.
They earn $174,000 a year.
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