Nassau Democratic chairman Jay Jacobs is giving “serious consideration” to backing two Republican judges to bust his GOP counterpart Joseph Mondello’s long time opposition to cross-endorsment deals, high-level Democratic sources say.
Jacobs is weighing Democratic support for Hempstead District Court Judge Vito DeStefano who wants to run for state Supreme Court and incumbent GOP county Court Judge Gerald Carter, who is up for re-election. Party sources say that Jacobs is looking to “jump start” the process to get “quality” judges for “good government” reasons.
GOP sources, however, say that while DeStefano ran on the GOP line, he is a Conservative and a close ally of Nassau Conservative Chairman Roger Bogsted, County Executive Thomas Suozzi’s consumer affairs commissioner. Bogsted, they say, has promised to endorse at least one Democrat in return for Jacobs’ backing of DeStefano. The “quality” claim is also suspect — the Nassau Bar Association found DeStefano “unqualified” when he first ran in 2003.
The disclosure comes as Democrats’ judicial screening committee is expected to start meeting this week. The leak is aimed at stirring the pot...
Rick Brand
among the dozen judges up for re-election and is aimed at increasing pressure on Mondello to back a cross-endorsement deal. Tensions are already high among GOP judges because Democrats last year won 10 of 11 judicial races. GOP Supreme court contenders, who must run in both Nassau and Suffolk, are especially worried because popular Democratic County Executive Steve Levy is leading the ticket in Suffolk and could have coattails that help Democratic candidates.
Mondello could not be reached for comment, but in the past has opposed cross-endorsement with Democrats, saying it take away voters right to choose.
Comments (1)
The Nassau County Bar Association Judicial screening committee was wrong about Justice Destefano and they would admit it now. He is very highly regarded and is an important player on his court.
The Bar's chief complaint was that he was an unknown quantity and that he was young for the post. He had never really practiced law in their opinion.
He was highly recommended by collegues and members of the Appellate Division.
He has received commendations from Chief judge Marano and will be a great Supreme court judge.