Judgeship vacancies fuel intrigue over state Supreme Court

nominations
Rick Brand

Rick Brand is a longtime Newsday reporter who writes about politics and government on Long
Island.
While selection of judicial candidates normally draws little interest beyond a judge's own family,
backroom wrangling over the state Supreme Court nominations is heating up and likely will become
intense by the mid-September nominating conventions.
Fueling backroom intrigue are the surprise departures of the state's No. 2 judge, A. Gail Prudenti,
daughter of the late former Suffolk GOP chairman Anthony Prudenti, and appellate Judge Peter
Skelos, brother of embattled former State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. The vacancies make
political cross-endorsements more likely.
"It's easier to make a deal when there's more to give," said Michael Dawidziak, a veteran political
consultant who often works for Republicans. "That way everyone can walk away happy."
ColumnNY's chief administrative judge steps down after 23 yearsStorySen. Skelos' brother retires as
judge
What makes state Supreme Court races unusual is that, unlike district, family and county courts
where candidates are free to run in any party's primary, state Supreme Court nominations are solely
the bastion of party leaders because state law permits no primaries.
In Suffolk, those nominations also could bring a sea change at the top of the Republican Party, given
speculation that county chairman John Jay LaValle and Islip Republican leader Frank Tantone may
be in line to run for judicial posts.
If the leaders win election, it would make Brookhaven GOP chairman Jesse Garcia the top contender
to replace LaValle as county chairman and create a scramble for Islip GOP chair.
Incumbent GOP Judge Emily Pines also is expected to be renominated.

But Suffolk Conservative Party officials remain a potent

force because the minor party can attract 10 to 12
percent of the vote on their ballot line. Suffolk
Conservatives also have a 28-14 edge over Nassau
Conservatives in judicial convention delegates, giving
them control over who the minor party will back for the
bicounty Supreme Court judgeships. Also, the Suffolk
GOP can't afford to anger Conservatives, whose backing
is vital in other races.
However, Nassau GOP chairman Joseph Mondello has made it a mission to thwart Edward Walsh,
Suffolk Conservative chairman, after giving up two judgeships to the minor party in 2013. His
concerns, sources say, have only grown, since Walsh was indicted in March on federal charges of
theft of government funds and wire fraud. Walsh has maintained his innocence and rejected a plea
bargain offered by federal prosecutors.
Suffolk Conservatives already have put forward Howard Heckman for District Court. He is a former
assistant district attorney, a veteran Supreme Court law clerk and the future father-in-law of county
Conservative Party secretary Mike Torres, but stands little chance on a single party line. But making
Heckman a Supreme Court candidate could allow the minor party to back GOP District Court
candidate Tara Scully, daughter of Peter Scully, Suffolk's deputy county executive.
Enmity toward Walsh prompted Mondello for the first time last year to make a two-year pact with
Nassau Democratic chairman Jay Jacobs. Under that deal, the GOP got two judges to the Democrats'
one, and Democrats will get a 2-1 edge this year. Democratic Nassau County Court Judge James
McCormack is slated for one of the nominations, but
http://www.long-island-portal.com/long_island_home_inspection.htm the other two have yet to be
named.
Mondello and Jacobs have met over Skelos' vacancy and expect an agreement. "We both see the
benefits of cooperating to find a qualified candidate for the bench we can agree on," Jacobs said.
Mondello said, "We've had good conversation and expect a meeting of the minds."

Meanwhile, party sources say LaValle and top

Conservative officials have begun to huddle with
Suffolk Democratic chairman Richard Schaffer,
though the leaders decline to comment on talks.
Schaffer, however, said he has a "deep bench" of
former and current judges who are qualified for
Supreme Court. "I'm open to anything," Schaffer
said. "I work with anybody to elect qualified
judges."
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