Proposed NY court reforms are a good start
Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman delivers his State of the Judiciary at the Court of Appeals on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015, in Albany. Credit: AP / Mike Groll
New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman wants to "restore integrity" to the process of appointing fiduciary advisers and counsel in state courts. A looser translation: We're so embarrassed that the Suffolk County justice system has been manipulated by local politicians to reward their friends and families that we are finally going to crack down.
Lippman detailed new monitoring measures and promised enforcement in his annual State of the Judiciary speech in Albany on Tuesday. In an interview afterward, the chief judge credited Newsday's investigative report "The Insiders" for exposing how nepotism and patronage played a role in how judges awarded lucrative legal fees and management contracts to operate properties in foreclosure.
Newsday's first story, in October, detailed how Oheka Castle catering-hall owner Gary Melius, his family and friends got $600,000 in fees from Suffolk County Supreme Court Justices Thomas Whelan and Emily Pines in total disregard of state rules adopted in 2002 to thwart such cronyism. The series focused on a web of prominent lawyers and party leaders connected to Melius, whose connections have made him a power broker in Nassau and Suffolk. Whelan was later removed from the plum assignment that allowed him to make such decisions.
New York's court system already has bright-line rules that forbid judges from appointing the heads of political parties to be administrators in commercial disputes, such as foreclosure cases. Still, Pines approved a payment of $90,000 to Richard Bellando, the Nassau County Independence Party chairman and Melius' former son-in-law.
Scoring minor-party ballot lines -- say from the Independence and Conservative parties, which play an outsized role locally in selecting judges -- is pretty much an express ticket to winning a seat on the bench.
Lippman said Tuesday he is giving new responsibility for monitoring and enforcing compliance to the rules to Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Michael V. Coccoma, who can refer any complaints to a special inspector general, who can issue violations. But we have heard such good intentions before -- since 1986, to be exact, when the first comprehensive changes were made to the state's fiduciary rules. After a 2001 scandal, a commission was formed to recommend ways to improve compliance with the rules.
Announcing that the Office of Court Administration has a new sheriff in town, and polishing his star, is a good start to stopping these conflicts of interests, encouraging whistleblowers and, most of all, making sure all proceedings are public and records are readily available.
Will it be enough to stem a systemic failure by a court system that, deliberately or not, has allowed massive amounts of money to line the pockets of the politically connected? Lippman is going to have to prove that his warnings will be heeded. For starters, how about holding accountable the Suffolk judges, including Gail Prudenti, the top administrative judge for the state court system, for letting this insider culture fester in Suffolk County? That ought to send a strong message.
