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TheAltamont Enterprise -Thursday, April 6,2006 ?* Editorial \A paradigm for what is wrong with our adversarial elective system for selecting judges Thomas Spargo has an uncanny way, even when he is wrong, or especially when he is wrong, of pointing up flaws in our judicial system. Last week, the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct said that Spargo, a state Supreme Court judge and formerly a Berne town judge, should be removed from the bench. His lawyer said that he probably won't appeal. The commission found that Spargo, to pay for his legal fees, , solicited money from lawyers with cases before him. \Using a judicial office to raise money for your own use is as egregious an act of misconduct as there is,\ said Robert Tembeckjian, counsel to the commission. Tembeckjian noted that Spargo's most serious misdeed came out of his need to pay for his defense against the original charges that were \not on the same level.\ We first took Spargo to task in this space in November of 2002 when he was wrapping himself disingenuously in the First Amend- ment. Spargo had pre-empted a hearing on the original charges and won a restraining order. He was challenging the commission in federal court, arguing that its allegations had to do \with the exercise of my First Amendment liberties, including my right to associate with those of my own choosing, and my free right of expression.\ Spargo stated in court papers, \The distinguishing feature latched upon by the Commission is the fact that I chose to exercise my constitutional rights while seeking to be elected as town Judge or Supreme Court Judge.\ The next year, in February of 2003, Spargo won his challenge in federal court, but reason prevailed on the appeal. However, Spargo's decision made us focus on recent Supreme Court decisions that loosened restrictions on campaign conduct for judges. In a decision earlier in 2002, Republican Party of Minnesota v. White, the Supreme Court had ruled that a provision in the Minnesota code of judicial conduct, which prohibited judicial candi- dates from revealing their views on disputedlegal or political issues, was unconstitutional. We believe candidates should be able to reveal their views; it makes for a more informed electorate. If judges are to be elected, citizens must know what they stand for. But this did not apply to Spargo's case. He was unwilling, during the 1999 Berne election forjudge, to speak on campaign issues in a pre-election interview because, he said then, judicial candidates aren't allowed to. Spargo was not so meticulous in observing other boundaries. He was accused of spending money for food, drink, or tokens to influ- ence Berne residents to vote for him; of engaging in financial dealings that may be perceived to exploit his judicial position; and of engaging in partisan political activity. . In last week's commission decision, all 10 members who partici- pated in the process found that Spargo solicited money from lawyers with cases before him. But on each of two other charges, three commission members dissented. The first was that Spargo, a highly-regarded election-law attor- ney, presided over criminal cases as a Berne town judge prosecuted by the Albany County District Attorney's Office without disclosing to the defense that he had rendered legal services to Paul Clyne's campaign for district attorney or that the Clyne campaign commit- tee'owed him $10,000. The second was that Spargo, during his campaign for state Supreme Court justice, was the keynote speaker at a political fund- raising event in May of 2001, and that his campaign committee paid $5,000 each to two political consultants, conveying the appearance that he paid them \for their efforts to obtain his nomination for public office,\ in violation of Election Law as well as the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct. Richard D. Emery, a commission member who dissented on both charges, wrote that Spargo's case is \a paradigm for what is wrong with our adversarial elective system for selecting judges.\ \In effect,\ wrote Emery, a New York City lawyer, \the miscon- duct rules regulatingjudicial campaigns are a patchwork of compro- mises and ad hoc judgments which fail to address the central causes of the unseemliness of judicial campaigns: party control and the candidate's need to raise money.\ Although Spargo deserves to be removed from the bench, Emery is right on this point. New York's Supreme Court judges, serving on the bottom rung of a three-tiered system, are nominated in conventions that are controlled by political-party bosses. How can these judges serve as impartial arbiters when, in order to be nominated, they must be partisan? Once nominated, they must garner public support to be elected. They secure money for their campaigns with much of it coming from area lawyers, which raises ethical concerns about impartiality. This problem is not peculiar to New York State. In states that elect their top judges — New York's are appointed — one candidate will get money from a trial lawyers' association, on the plaintiffs side, while his opponent will get money from an insurance lobby or business council on the defendant's side. Millions of dollars are spent. How can a judge running for election under such circumstances be an impartial arbiter from the bench? Any system can be subverted. We commend the commission for its decision, which we see as an attempt to keep our current system fair and honest. But we believe the case points up systemic problems that need a broader solution. The Enterprise opinion pages are an open forum for our c'omnlunity. We encourage readers to express their thoughts about issues that appear in this newpaper or affect the community. Letters should be brief (with an outside limit of 1,000 words) and must include the N writer's address, name, and phone number for verification. The editors may reject letters that have been printed elsewhere. Letters concerning elections will be cut off one issue before the ^p ^ j* M 0 . election at the editor's discretion. No unsigned f J* ^L>VS.£ ^•^^i^^- letters. Deadline for letters is Tuesday at noon. Will I have to decide between fulfilling education and a minimal amount of debt? To the Editor: This letter is in response to Congress's recent increase in student loans. After receiving the news, I felt not only utterly dis- traught about the seemingly ex- ponential growth rate of college loans, but I also found myself being reminded of my parents' words of advice: Do not accu- mulate excessive student loans. Both my parents' college educations were determined by their financial standings, for even though they were bright enough to attend some of the upper-echelon medical schools, they were fiscally unable to do,, so. Since I am currently a junior in high school, and I have some colleges in mind that I would like to attend, my parents have al- ready begun to caution me about the \evils\ of college loans. I must admit, a few of the colleges I am considering have some fairly daunting tuition costs, and when I visit the Col- lege Board website, which is about once every few months, it appears as though those col- leges' tuitions rise each time by a sizable amount. Although my parents will most likely be able to cover some of the costs, I know it will be mostly up to me to pay for col- lege, a feat I can only accom- plish by taking out loans. There- in lies the problem, however. With both tuitions and college loan interest rates increasing (now at 6.8 percent!), I find myself taking a second look at some of those more expensive colleges, and, reconsidering my parents' advice about burden- some loans. This latest federal increase of college-loan interest rates leads j me to wonder if next year, when I actually apply to colleges, if I will be in the same predicament my parents were in a generation before, where I have to decide between a more fulfilling educa- tion or a minimal amount of debt from loans. Orion Mercaitis Guilderland Old Men of the Mountain We played with mercury, chewed creosote, and handled asbestos By John R. Williams On March 28, the Old Men of the Mountain met at the Kitchen of Mrs. K's in Middleburgh. By the way, the Old Men of the Mountain are referred to as OMOTM, OF's, OG's, and yet- to-be-used JB's, which is for jailbirds. This is in reply to a few requests as to who these people are. The original Mrs. K is lounging in Florida. She went to school with some of the OF's. Her daughter now is basically running the place, and doing a darn good job of it we may add. However, the daughter was supposed to go down and pick up her mom in Florida and bring her back to Middleburgh. Well she didn't go because it was Mrs. K's Kitchen's turn in the barrel for the OMOTM to be there on last Tuesday. This left the original Mrs. K cooling her heels in Florida until the OG's were taken care of. That's dedication. Surviving \bad stuff On the local newscast, there have been, in the recent -past, schools closed because of mer- cury contamination problems. One was as simple as a therm- ometer breaking. The OMOTM want to know what the big deal is. We are in our 70's and 80's and, when we were in school, we played with, mercury. We put it on the table and pushed the little balls of mercury around. We rubbed it on coins and rings to make them reaaallly shiny. If this stuff was that bad — we should all be dead. Now creosote is bad stuff and is not supposed to be used. We used to (on hot days in the sum- mer) pull the bubbles of creosote off the telephone poles and chew it like gum. We did the same thing with the tar that bubbled up on the road. We are in our 70's and 80's — we should all be dead. We used to use asbestos to wrap heat pipes, and also used it around the old coal-fired fur- naces. We purchased the stuff in bags, soaked it in water and made a paste of it and stuffed it in cracks, and wrapped pipes. It was also purchased in rolls like wallpaper, and again we wrapped heat pipes with it after dampening it a little. It was used to patch cracks in wood stoves, too. We are in our 70's and 80's — we should all be dead. Making fat cats richer A question the OF's have is that the older people are living longer, and the younger people are dying younger. Maybe, just Like waves, we start rushing to shore, rolling along down in the trough and up on the crest at the same time as all the other little droplets of water that started out when we did, and we age as our rush toward land proceeds. When we reach land, we rise up on that final crest with all the other drops that are traveling with us. Then, with a roar, we crash against the rocks or slam into the beach and that's it, our wave is over. We are in our 70's and 80's we should be dead. maybe, we are supposed to have a few of these germs around, and the chemicals are not as bad as \they\ say. Old-time doctors and old-time pharmacists used to mix up concoctions in the back room that worked. Back then, when a doctor wrote a prescription, it was a chemical formula that the pharmacists put together and it worked. Now the drug companies are involved and have screwed the whole thing up. The OMOTM think you don't need half this junk. All it does is make some fat cats richer, and does nothing to cure you. The OG's think that some of this stuff prolongs the symptoms so you have to buy more. Most doctors know what they are doing: The OMOTM feel, let them doctor, and everyone else keep their noses out of their business and maybe we would be a lot healthier. Cresting the wave Two notes of thought from this scribe. It is tough to get old, but getting old makes you tougher. That's thought number one. Number two. When we are born, we are like a drop of water in the ocean, born with a lot of other drops at the same time. There have been many waves ahead of us and many waves behind us, but we and the friends we made when we started out, our wave is done. So what prompted all that? The OMOTM were talking about how many funerals we are attending, and we are sorry that whoever it is, is gone, but the shock is not there, like it would be if it were someone 29 years old that dies of some rare disease.. There is shock and maybe a little anger and longer-lasting grief, but, when your buddy of 85 years passes on, there is an empty feeling. Yet, as a rule it is, \See ya in a little while old friend,\ and you go on with what time you have left — go to thought number one. Those still around to meet at Mrs. K's Kitchen in Middle- burgh, and who will probably be around for quite awhile yet the way we are going were: Stu Hutchins, Gerd Remmers, Art Bradt, George Washburn, Paul Paulsen, John Rdssmann, Mace Porter, Ted Pelkey, Harold Guest, Carl Walls, Arnold Geraldsen, Steve Kelly, Skip Skinner, Steve Torok, Ted Wiilsey, Bob Galusha, Mike Witisey, Jim Rissacher, Harold Grippen, and me
