GOP lawmakers likely to file ethics complaint against state's top judge

Daily Point

Ranking Republicans contend Chief Judge Rowan Wilson's criticism of tough judges is out of bounds

The ranking Republican lawmakers on the Senate and Assembly Judiciary committees are strongly considering filing an ethics complaint against Chief Judge Rowan Wilson over recent remarks advocating some criminal court judges  should be voted out of office, The Point has learned.

State Sen. Anthony Palumbo of Southold and Assemb. Michael Tannousis of Staten Island are planning a Wednesday morning news conference in Albany to detail their concerns about Wilson's recent remarks to law school students in which he also advocated for a law that would allow for the resentencing of inmates who are serving long prison terms.

"His comments — on specific legislation as well as his comments about which types of judges should be elected and which should not — are shocking," Palumbo told The Point.

"These sorts of comments put in question his ability to remain impartial," said Palumbo, noting that Wilson is head of the state's judiciary system and the Office of Court Administration.

Any formal complaint would be sent to the state's Commission on Judicial Conduct, an independent agency that can take disciplinary action against the state's more than 3,000 judges for misconduct, which can include instances of bias or improper political activity.

Wilson's remarks were made at a Feb. 27 CUNY School of Law symposium concerning the Second Look Act. At the event, sponsored by the law school and the advocacy group Communities Not Cages, Wilson endorsed the bill, first introduced five years ago by some of the state's most liberal legislators, which would establish a right to challenge a harsh sentence after serving 10 years.

The Queens Daily Eagle quoted Wilson, who is a longtime critic of the state's sentencing laws. "Everything we are doing here is stupid," said Wilson, according to the report.

In addition to endorsing legislation that he may have to rule on as the chief judge, lawmakers are concerned that Wilson violated ethics laws by explicitly saying that judges issue harsh sentences should be gone from the bench.

A video of the symposium on YouTube shows that Wilson's comments about ousting judges came directly after he cited "horrible language" in transcripts including one in which a judge told a defendant "you're an an animal and should be put in a cage for the rest of your life."  

Wilson told the audience the court system is limited about what can be done to such judges. "And one thing that all of you can do is find out who those people are when those judges come up to be elected, don't vote for them, get other people not to vote for them." He added, "That's something you can do for me." 

An expert on judicial conduct said Wilson's remarks could be considered a "negative endorsement," which would be barred under the ethics rules.

A spokesman for the state court system did not immediately  comment on any Republican action against Wilson.

Wilson, an associate judge on New York's top court, was elevated to the chief judge spot by Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2023 after an extraordinary pushback by Senate Democrats who wanted a more liberal justice. At the time, Palumbo, who supported Hochul's first pick of Long Island's Hector LaSalle, sued Senate Democrats to force a floor vote on his doomed nomination, capping weeks of bitter fighting that embroiled the nominations. Hochul's appointment of Wilson could become an issue in the current gubernatorial race, giving Republicans another lane to criticize her as soft on crime.

— Rita Ciolli rita.ciollii@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Party's over

For more cartoons, visit www.newsday.com/nationalcartoons

Final Point

ICE zoned out, for now

• ICE suffered a setback in trying to use the Internal Revenue Service's Holtsville office as a holding cell when Brookhaven Town officials said they would reject the plan because converting office space into a lockup isn't permitted under town code, although ICE can modify and resubmit its application. Long Island's myriad and Byzantine zoning laws serve many purposes.
• Long Island potholes are viral now that East Northport resident Gerard McGorry posted video of more than a dozen damaged cars pulled over on the Sunken Meadow Parkway Friday morning. Similar Instagram Reels documented the craters taking out cars left and right across the Island's moonscape of roads. Next in the series — orange cones filling the holes.
• There's no witty rejoinder to a poll showing that 61% of voters say they either don't know you or have no opinion of you. Ouch. That's the mountain Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is trying to surmount in his bid to unseat Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul. A Siena Research Institute poll last week has Hochul leading by 20 points. Remember Rob Astorino or Marc Molinaro?
• Gas prices have skyrocketed from a national average of $2.99 a gallon to $3.48 a gallon in a week, according to AAA. Time to rewatch "The Road Warrior" as a primer for filling the tank.
• Congressional Republicans were giddy when former Yankee Mark Teixeira won his GOP primary last week, and not just for political reasons. The GOP baseball team could get a real thumper in Teixeira, who hit 409 dingers in his career. House Dems should recruit James Shields, who held Teixeira to a .118 batting average in 58 plate appearances with zero extra base hits and 18 whiffs.

— Mark Nolan mark.nolan@newsday.com

Subscribe to The Point here and browse past editions of The Point here.