The judicial convention is one of the ways corruption can best thrive in Brooklyn's machine dominated political landscape. Yet most Brooklynites have no clue what the judicial convention is, why we have it, or what needs changing about it.

Apparently Chris Owens, President of Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, wants to do something about that. His efforts have created something of a stir because he is raising money as part of his run for delegate to the judicial convention. This raised eyebrows because no one could imagine why you need money to run for an uncontested party position. I held off commenting for the most part because I suspected there may well be a plan behind Chris Owens' fundraising, and I suspected I knew what it was since I had similar ideas (which I never followed up on) regarding County Committee.

Some judges in Brooklyn, like the 1st Civil Court seat this year, are up for grabs in an election. Other judicial seats are decided by the party bosses who dominate the judicial convention. In the past this has created some pretty disgusting scandals, (see, for example, here and here. The system basically made judgeships a political plum that party bosses could give out with little or no regard for qualifications or honesty. It also means that most people who get nominated for judicial spots have had to donate to the party boss.

Margarita Lopez Torres was one victim of this system. She was punished by the Brooklyn Democratic machine because she refused to play along with the cronyism of the machine. In retaliattion, the machine blocked her nomination to a state supreme court position. She then went on to file a lawsuit against the party on the grounds that the judicial convention system was unfair. A court agreed, as did two appeals courts. The Supreme Court of the US disagreed and struck down the lower courts' rulings, re-allowing the judicial convention system on the grounds that prohibiting the judicial convention violated the First Amendment rights of political parties.

Now I have to say this strikes me as fairly stupid since the corruption of the convention system could be said to violate the rights of the entire state to have good judges. But law does not produce the best decisions. The best the legal system can do is produce LEGAL decisions. The fact that the Supreme Court decision was UNANIMOUS is telling. In the eyes of the Supreme Court judges it seems the right of the party to limit who the voters can vote for trumps the need for good judges. The former is, in their eyes, covered by the Constitution while the latter is not. You can read judge Scalia's rather interesting statement in this diary.

Most people in Brooklyn have little idea how all this works. And yet if they ever find themselves in court, they really hope that they have a good judge. Both the elections (due to low voter turnout) and the conventions have produced some really bad judges, either unqualified, or outright corrupt. It is unacceptable to have lousy judges deciding people's lives.

Chris Owens wants to do something about this system and he is raising money to support his efforts. From his new email:

You may know that I am now a candidate for Judicial Delegate here in Brooklyn, New York.

This lowly party position has a short-tenure and little real function. As a candidate, however, I want to continue the work of other reform-minded Democrats and highlight the lack of transparency and the dominance of money and political deal-making in the selection of Kings County (Brooklyn) judges. Unfortunately, merit and real competition mean little when overwhelmed by our local political machine.

As the new President of the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID), I see this Judicial Delegate campaign as an extension of the work we have been doing to make important changes and re-establish the credibility of our politics and our officeholders. And New York judges do "go places," so there are implications beyond Brooklyn alone.

That is why I am asking for your help right now. To get through the Democratic Primary election on September 9th and the judicial convention that follows, Chris Owens for Brooklyn needs to raise a small amount of working capital. Our goal is simple: $10,000 raised from 400 contributors of $25 each.

We launched this effort just last week and we have already raised our first $1,000. But we really do need more. The funds will be used to launch a local media campaign higlighting the judicial convention and the need for changes, as well as covering basic campaign expenditures (phones, web-based resources, literature and some rental space). We expect most of our work to be done by volunteers. The campaign has already recruited more than 160 members of our Facebook group.

...

So, please click here to visit to our website right now and become one of the 400 for Fairness!

If you prefer to send a check payable to Chris Owens for Brooklyn, mail it to 328 Flatbush Avenue, #333, Brooklyn, NY 11238-4302.

The struggles may continue but I know we can change Brooklyn like we are changing Washington!

Thank you again for your support today ... and enjoy the rest of the summer.

Chris Owens

Potentially sounds like an excellent idea to get people better understanding how Brooklyn gets its judges.

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