By MICHAEL SCHENKLER

The selection process of judges in Brooklyn is the subject of an investigation by DA Charles Hynes. Brooklyn Democratic County Leader Clarence Norman is expected to be indicted shortly.

Fourteen Brooklyn Supreme Court Judges have been recently mired in ethical or legal trouble.

All were selected by County Leader Clarence Norman.

The process in Brooklyn is not very different than the process in the other 61 counties of New York State. A very politicized process, which is usually controlled by a single powerbroker, gets to name determines the judicial candidates who are offered to the people of the majority party to be elected. The process often produces less than desirable judges.

Last week, Queens Supreme Court Judge Luther Dye was censured and forced to retire at the end of the year by the NYS Commission on Judicial Conduct. Dye, who had previously been censured because of sexually harassing his secretary, was probed this time because of biased and bizarre behavior. The Queens judge according to a published report had inquired if an attorney appearing before him was Jewish, made comments about Chinese and laundries, and had told a mother who was seeking the release of funds for her daughter’s education that he would not send his children to Catholic school because of the scandals in the church.

Judge Dye will be gone by year’s end. But sadly, he has tainted some very fine public servants on the Queens bench. He also has called attention to a number who are not quite so fine.

And so it is in most of New York’s 62 counties.

And everyone knows it is time for a change — everyone!

But that change is the responsibility of the NYS Legislature, a body seemingly incapable of accomplishing anything for the good of the people. The politics and self-preservation of its leaders seem to be the priorities of the NYS Assembly and Senate.

The mandate to fix our judicial system is clear.

And if your State Senator and Assemblymember can’t accomplish it in the next year, they too should be forced into retirement along with Judge Dye and the rest of the political do-nothings who plague us.

Angela Montefinise:

She’s No Angel

Change in the newsroom is always exciting. Everyone gets to refocus on the task of uncovering and disseminating the news of Queens. A rebirth of spirit and desire seems to be brewing amongst a very talented newroom which combines some pretty new reporters with a couple of not-so-old pros.

The catalyst for our reportorial renaissance is our very newly minted managing editor, who took over the newsroom with last week’s issue. A daughter of Queens, Angela Montefinise received her education on the streets and in the classrooms of our borough.

Her journalistic training came from Queens College, including coursework with professor Tamara Hartman, our outgoing managing editor. That connection brought Angela to the Trib some two plus years ago, where she honed her skills in our newsroom. She demonstrated her intellect, skill, tenacity and critical thinking skills and quickly became our lead reporter and then news editor.

Last week she took on the awesome responsibility of directing the news operation of the borough’s leading community newspaper.

She follows in the footsteps of accomplished journalists like Mitch Albom, author of Tuesday’s With Morrie, the current city editor of the Washington Post, and a long line of professional journalists presently reporting at the leading dailies of our City and nation including the New York Times, the Philadephia Inquirer, Newsday, and the Daily News.

I’ve known them all. Keep your eye on Angela, she’s special. In a year, or two, or three or maybe sooner, she will prove to everyone else what I already know. She knows Queens, she knows news and she’s going to uncover and tell stories that this borough has never seen before. That is my belief and my challenge to her.

Angela, write on!

Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan:
Gifted Writer & Thinker, Helped Shape Public Policy

By HENRY STERN

Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003) was eulogized last week at Hunter College.  Several hundred former colleagues, employees and admirers of the late Senator heard about 90 minutes of tributes and watched video clips of the Senator on “Meet the Press,” where he appeared 24 times in 31 years.  (Tim Russert started as a Moynihan staff member.)

Moynihan was a remarkable man who had an extraordinary career in academia and public service.  One can reflect that there are no Moynihans in public life today, in either party. No one comes close.

His election was something of a fluke; in the Democratic Senate primary in 1976 there were three radical candidates, Bella Abzug, Ramsey Clark and Paul O’Dwyer. 

Then there was Moynihan, a moderate, possibly pre-neo-conservative but slowly moving left, who was to the right of the other three.  The fifth candidate was Abe Hirschfeld, whom I will desist from describing in detail. 

Moynihan had just served as the United States representative to the United Nations, where he had vigorously defended Israel from the “Zionism is racism” resolution, adopted in 1975 and repealed in 1991.  The Abzug-Moynihan race, in which the two were only 10,000 votes apart, was probably decided by the New York Times endorsement of Moynihan, when Punch Sulzberger, then the publisher, became convinced to overrule the editorial board, which had supported Abzug.  The choice of Moynihan in 1976 was Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Sr.’s great gift to the United States and the world.

My minor role in the 1976 election was as the Liberal Party’s Senate candidate (stalking horse) until the Democratic primary in September. After Moynihan won the five-way race, I was nominated for a judgeship in order to vacate the line for Moynihan to help defeat James Buckley (Bill’s brother), the Conservative-Republican incumbent. 

In New York State there are only three ways for a candidate to get off the ballot: die, move out of the state, or receive a judicial nomination.  At that time I had just been married and wanted to live and raise a family.  I was an elected City Councilmember, and I couldn’t even move out of Manhattan.  Since I was a lawyer, however, I could try to become a judge.

 Few people today know that Pat Moynihan had been defeated in his first candidacy for public office.  He ran for president of the New York City Council in 1965 on a ticket headed by Paul Screvane.  At that time in New York politics, the three citywide positions were contested by slates, consisting of an Italian, Irish and Jewish candidates.  The man who defeated Moynihan, Queens District Attorney Frank O’Connor, was the Democratic nominee for Governor in 1966 who lost to Nelson Rockefeller.

A unique aspect of Moynihan’s career is that he served Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford, two Democrats and two Republicans.  All four respected his high intelligence, his remarkable abilities, and his loyalty to his country.

While a Senator, among many other interests, he, along with his Republican colleague for 18 years, Al D’Amato, was an ardent advocate of funding for New York State.

As Parks Commissioner, I corresponded with the Senator, who whimsically addressed me in his letters as Lord High Commissioner.

He was the person most responsible for the development of Foley Square and Thomas Paine Park, which is located between the state and federal courthouses and the Javits federal office building. As part of his interest in urban design Moynihan committed federal funds to the project, which otherwise would not have been undertaken.

This column is not a biography of this great man. It simply deals with some of his adventures in New York politics, and his interface with Parks and Liberals.  It is not even a complete account of the memorial, which deserves to be transcribed and published.

 Richard Ravitch, Stephen Mann and Maura Moynihan organized the tribute, which was co-sponsored by Hunter College, the host, and the Jewish Community Relations Council.

Former Senators Bob Kerrey, Bill Bradley and D’Amato spoke warmly about their experiences with Senator Moynihan.  An unusual aspect of the event was that Governor Pataki and Mayor Koch both attended, but did not speak.  Leonard Garment, a brilliant colleague in the Nixon White House and a friend of Pat and Liz for thirty-five years, was compelling.  Joel Motley spoke for the staff.

The Senator’s daughter, Maura, the closing speaker, was magnificent as she described his argument before the United Nations, possibly his finest hour.  Her son, Michael, the Senator’s grandson, was introduced as helping to teach his grandfather about sports. Afterward, the Senator’s staff and friends adjourned to a neighborhood bar.

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Henry Stern can be reached at: starquest@nycivic.org