Got this e-mail from political gadfly, Alan Flacks. [Portions of the post were edited to remove the participants' dates of birth, residence telephone numbers and home addresses -- unless no other contact information was supplied.]
County's Civil Court Screening Panel
The New York County Democratic organization's screening panel for N.Y.C. Civil Court judges is now in full swing. Because of the Party's inability to get moving on time, the screening panel--also short necessary members to review the two dozen applicants--will not report the most highly qualified of the lawyer applicants until Monday, 24 May, after many clubs have scheduled their endorsement meetings since petitioning begins on the 8th of June, 2010.
There are two County-wide seats and two District Court seats, (Districts one and five) plus two incumbents up for re-election (M. Cooper & J. Kenney).
Please remember this important fact: no group, association, or the like designated a panelist, but it was the organization's chief acting in his or her individual capacity who named the panelist. Here, in no particular order, are the members of the Party's ;2010 screening panel for Manhattan N.Y.C. Civil Court Judges. [All telephone numbers are in area code 212 unless noted otherwise.]
Telesforo "Ted" del Valle, hijo, Esq., 445 Park Ave. - 9th fl., NYC 10022. 481+1900. N.Y. Law School. Admitted: 1984 (1st Dept.) (347) 200+53.63. Dem. [Puerto Rican Bar Assn. (by Catherine Torres, Pres.)] Ineligible to serve because panelist had served within the past three years (County Supreme Ct. panel 2008).
Glenn E. Martin, V.P. Development & P.R., The Fortune Society, 29-76 Northern Blvd., L.I.C., N.Y. 11101. 691+75.54.
Dem. [The Fortune Soc. (Joanne Page, exec. dir.)]
Beverley Wheeler, 1385 Fifth Ave. - #11E, NYC 10029. Dem. [N.A.A.C.P. Mid-Manh. Br. (Geoffery Eaton, pres.)]
Judith Rifkin, Esq. Formerly with Citigroup Global Markets, 485 Lexington Ave., NYC 10017. Fordham. 1985 (1st Dept.). SChuyler 4 - 49.69. Dem. [N.Y. Women's Bar. Assn., NYC Chapt. (Donna Praiss, pres.)]
Mona-Lisa Tolbert, administrator, Harlem Children's Zone, 147 St. Nicholas Ave., NYC 10026. UNiversity 4 - 7159. Dem. [Harlem Children's Zone (Geoffrey Canada, pres.)]
Rachel Anna Spector, Esq., MFY Legal Services, 299 B'way, NYC 10007. 417+37.57. CUNY. 2008 (2nd Dept.) Dem. [Christopher Lamb, Ch. Atty.]
Ellyn S. Berman, social worker, 173 Riverside Dr. #15A, NYC 10024. TRafalgar 7 -27.78. Dem. [Women's City Club (Ruth Acker, pres.)]
Patria Yudelka Frias-Colon, Esq., NYC Dept. of Ed., 49-51 Chambers St. - 6th Fl., NYC 10007. FR. - 4 67.54. Hofstra. 1995 (2nd Dept.). Dem. [Dominican Bar Assn.]
James S. Yu, Esq., Seyfarth Shaw LLP, 620 Eighth Ave. 32nd Fl., NYC 10018. 218+55.26. Rutgers. 2004 (3rd Dept.). [Asian-American Bar Assn. N.Y. (Robert Leung, pres.)]
Richard C. Socarides, Esq., 450 West 24th St. - #10D, NYC 10011. (646) 448+43.06. Hofstra. 1980 (1st Dept.) 11.8/1954. Dem. [Lesbian & Gay Law Assn. of Greater N.Y.]
Janice A. Goodman, Esq., 350 Seventh Ave. - #1800, NYC 10001. 869+19.40. N.Y.U. 1972 (1st Dept.). [Nat'l Employment Lawyers Assn. / N.Y. (Darnley Stewart, Pres.)]
Sylvia Elizabeth Di Pietro, Esq., 55 West 14th St. #4H, NYC 10011. CHelsea 2 - 8800 / ALgonquin 5 - 40.59. Brooklyn. 2001 (1st Dept.) Dem. [Columbian Lawyers Assn. (Jos. DeMatteo, pres.)]
Michael Elliot Jaffe, Esq., Pazer, Epstein, & Jaffee, P.C., 20 Vesey St., NYC 10007. BArclay 7 - 12.12. Cardozo. 1995 (2nd Dept.) [N.Y.State Trial Lawyers (Richard Binko, Pres.)]
Daniel O'Toole, Esq., Block, O'Toole, & Murphy, LLP, One Penn Plaza - #5315, NYC 10119. PEnnsylvania 6 - 5300. Fordham. 1993 (1st Dept.) Rep. [Brehon Law Society (Robert Dunne, pres.)]
Lise Gabrielle Hunter, Esq., NYC College of Tech., 300 Jay St., Bklyn., N.Y. 11201. (718) 260+51.24. Brooklyn. 1985 (1st Dept.). Dem. [Metro. Black Bar Assn. (Dakota Ramseur, pres.)]
Y.L. Linda Peng, Esq., Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 140 B'way - 19th Fl., NYC 10005. (646) 746+97.46. Fordham. 1989 (1st Dept.). Dem. [Asian-Americans for Equality (Wendy Takahisa, pres.)]
Roxanna M. Gutierrez, Esq., Chief Operating Officer, Neighborhood Defenders Service of Harlem, 317 Lenox Ave. - 10th Fl., N.Y.C. 10027. TRafalgar 6 - 5500. Georgetown. 1990 (2nd Dept.) Dem. [Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (Ricke Jones, Exec. Dir.)]
Evan M. Goldberg, Esq., Trolman, Glaser, & Lichtman, 777 Third Ave., NYC 10017. 750+1200. Brooklyn. 1989 (2nd Dept.)Dem. [Jewish Lawyers Guild (Glenn Allan Jacobson, pres.)] Ineligible to serve; organization's president was not asked to designate a panelist.
I am sorry to report that this year, the N.Y. County Democratic Committee's judiciary committee's screening panel for N.Y. County Civil Court judges has two panelists who should not be on it. One person appears to have served within the past three years which is impermissible under the County panel rules. The other was designated by the president of the Jewish Lawyers Guild who the judiciary committee had decided not to invite to designate a panelist.
I have been "cautioned" that divulging the list of panel members would be an "affront" to the Democratic Party organization. If the New York County Democratic Party's screening panels become "politicized," it will bolster the arguments in support of the O.C.A. screening panels. Then community involvement will be at an end, and the big law firms will be selecting our judges.