The Commission On Judicial Conduct is a political lobby, or "a group of persons engaged in trying to influence legislators or other public officials in favor of a specific cause". The NY POST opinion of the just released report on the nepotism of Chief Presiding Judge Luis Gonzalez of the Appellate Division, First Department
is admirable:
"And yet, the complaint against him was dismissed without so much as a reprimand.
Why? Because, the commission found, “hiring for non-lawyer positions at the Appellate Division, First Department, has been a closed process for decades.”
In other words, that’s the way it’s always been done in the First Department — so why hold Gonzalez responsible?"
For all those non-lawyer readers out there (like me), any person who knows about unethical or criminal behavior by a member of the bar must report the information or be guilty of misprison of felony. I believe that the real reason why the CJC is not prosecuting Gonzalez is that they would have to also prosecute Jonathan Lippman and Judith Kaye, two Judges who could be said to have done the exact same thing as Gonzalez, hired friends and family for court positions.
What the public needs to do is get the state legislature to legislate these people out of existence, and they can take the personnel at the Commission on Judicial Conduct as well as the Departmental Disciplinary Committee with them.
Betsy Combier
Report tags Judge Luis Gonzalez for patronage
A top Bronx-based appeals judge turned the court system into a patronage trough for his family and the relatives of his stop staff, an explosive new report alleges.
Judge Luis Gonzalez, presiding justice of the appellate division’s First Department, hired his ex-wife and five relatives of his top staffers, the report by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct found.
Gonzalez “moved the hiring practice into his chambers” in 2010 when he took the top spot on the appeals court that oversees Manhattan and the Bronx, the report states.
Judges’ jobs injustice
Last Updated:11:58 PM, April 7, 2012
Posted:10:29 PM, April 7, 2012
If you’re a New York City judge and get caught breaking court rules, not to worry: The state’s Commission on Judicial Conduct is only too happy to give you a pass.
That’s what the panel proved last week when it let Justice Luis Gonzalez off the hook, scot-free — despite finding, in a lengthy report, that he was a flagrant nepotist who clearly violated the court’s rules.
The Commission On Judicial Conduct is a political lobby, or "a group of persons engaged in trying to influence legislators or other public officials in favor of a specific cause".
Indeed, the way Gonzalez — the presiding justice of the Appellate Division’s First Department, covering Manhattan and The Bronx — handed out court jobs, he seemed more like a one-man family-and-friends employment agency than a fair-minded, on-the-merits judge of the court.
Among those who got non-attorney jobs: his ex-wife, his secretary’s brother, his driver’s son and cousin, his executive assistant’s nephew and his previous assistant’s nephew.
It’s a wonder he found time for any judicial matters.
And yet, the complaint against him was dismissed without so much as a reprimand.
Why? Because, the commission found, “hiring for non-lawyer positions at the Appellate Division, First Department, has been a closed process for decades.”
In other words, that’s the way it’s always been done in the First Department — so why hold Gonzalez responsible?
What a pitiful excuse.
Frankly, it speaks volumes about the commission itself — and its relationship to the judges it’s supposed to judge.
Never mind that the report noted that “such a practice undermines the judicial obligation to make appointments based on merit, avoiding favoritism and nepotism.”
And that “it diminishes public confidence in the fairness and impartiality of the courts, even if every person hired for every job was in fact qualified for it.”
(In the case of Gonzalez’s hires, by the way, that wasn’t even always the case.)
Yet the commission practically made the jurist sound a like a hero — saying that “to his credit, Judge Gonzalez has acknowledged shortcomings in the [hiring] protocol . . . and is open to making meaningful change.”
Gee, how swell of him. He and the other appellate justices swiftly adopted the commission’s recommendations.
But none of this should have been necessary. The court’s rules are crystal clear about how employees should be hired — and Gonzalez, like his predecessors, blatantly ignored them.
No one should pretend that any of them are reformers. They made a mockery of the system — and only further eroded public confidence in it.
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