The Daily News has long believed that it is bad public policy to elect judges. Appointed jurists, by a governor and a mayor is much a better system. That is the same view also held by the New York City Bar Association since its 1870 founding.
Both this newspaper and the City Bar also have long supported reorganizing the country’s most complex and confusing state court system. Actually, “reorganizing” isn’t the correct word, because it implies that the current hodgepodge jumble of 10 different trial courts is somehow organized. But alas, the Legislature and their political friends, who benefit from electing judges and from the sprawling mess, are loath to reform.
So in this primary, like every year, we try to guide Democratic voters on the best choices they should make. Of the 10 candidates in the primaries, only one has failed to file financial disclosure forms and complete the mandatory campaign ethics training: Kenneth Gayle, running for Civil Court in Brooklyn. Gayle was not approved by the City Bar in their ratings of judicial candidates .
His rival, Janice Robinson , did both sets of paperwork in a timely fashion, and she was likewise not approved by the City Bar. Despite Robinson’s failing to win the Bar’s stamp of approval, Democrats should vote for Robinson, as Gayle refuses to comply with the rules of the court. We also part company with the City Bar in the Queens Surrogate primary and endorse Civil Court Judge Wendy Li even though she was not approved.
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