The Democratic primary for Brooklyn’s Surrogate Court Judge on June 25 is expected to have one of the lowest voter turn-outs in history. That’s a shame. The race for Surrogate Court Judge is the last chance to cut off the cash supply of the Brooklyn Democratic Party Machine, which makes its living off the Brooklyn courts.
In 1966, New York’s newly elected Senator Robert Kennedy drew national attention to the race for the Manhattan Surrogate Judge. Kennedy backed an obscure Russian-Immigrant Manhattan Judge Samuel Silverman, for Surrogate court against the Manhattan Democratic Party hack judge for three reasons: to purge the democratic machine patronage from the Surrogate’s Court, to get even with the party leaders who blocked his proposed party reforms to end corruption and to open the Democratic Party to all New Yorkers.
Robert Kennedy said that electing Silverman to the Surrogate Court was the first step in cleaning up the court patronage–the “worst element in our political parties.” Like Silverman, Judge Elena Baron running for the Surrogate Court, is a Russian immigrant, who has already shown her independence by getting elected to Civil Court in a grassroots campaign against the party machine.
The self-proclaimed “Progressive-Reformers” in Brooklyn have had an unhealthy arrangement on ceding control of the Brooklyn Courthouse to the Democratic Party for the past decade.
At last year’s Kings County Committee meeting, the New Kings Democrats and the new county committee members were bullied by party leaders’ Frank Seddio, County Lawyer Marty Connor and the infamous de Blasio fixer Frank Carone, who used unauthorized proxies and the County Committee meeting to back-flip their hack candidates for Judge.
The back-flip is a simple political maneuver by which the County machine first collects petitions for an incumbent judge, then moves the re-elected incumbent to the Supreme Court within a week of the primary at the Judicial Convention and finally, inserts the party’s candidate into the now vacant seat of the incumbent, bypassing the voters altogether. While most courts mandate retirement at 70, the Supreme Court allows for age extensions. This year’s County candidate for Surrogate, Margarita Lopez Torres, who is running for a 14 years term, is 68 years old and will have to retire at 70, in two years.
The New Kings Democrats have never been involved in any race against the Democratic Party machine picked Judges. Nevertheless, when interviewed about this year’s Surrogate Court race, NKD president Brandon West promised: “Any backroom deals made within the party are not something we’ll support.”
The reform wing of the Brooklyn Democratic party I was part of grew out of 1970’s anti-war movement, proudly supported the election of hundreds of independent Judges.
Today’s so-called progressive reformers, their clubs and elected officials have abandoned their progressive role of electing of Judges not beholden to the party machine. There are serious consequences to that abandonment.
Reform Democrats can take back our courts on June 25 with the election of Elena Baron to the Surrogate Court.
John O’Hara is an attorney. He lives in Brooklyn and is a supporter of Judge Baron.
Editor’s Note: Meredith Jones is also running for Surrogate Court Judge in a three-person race.
