Once again let me remind people that judicial races are at least as important as any other local election. Judges determine the fates of citizens more directly than any other elected position. We need good judges and we need judges we can trust.

This is a follow-up diary to one I wrote earlier about the 1st Civil Court District in Brooklyn. This year a friend of mine (Devin Cohen) is running. His opponent is Roger Adler. Both are good, smart lawyers who are fully qualified to be judge. Adler has been practicing law longer than Devin, but Devin Cohen has more actual civil court experience. So it comes down to a question of temperment and trustworthiness. In my earlier article I addressed both issues. But I have found out more about Roger Adler, who claims to be a Democrat with progressive values, yet I discover that by far his largest contributions are to some of the most conservaitve organizations and politicians in NY State.

I already confronted Adler with his past donations, and his defenses, which I outlined before, were a.) he chooses to support individuals not blind party loyalty, and b.) he supports those who he wants favors from. The second excuse already raised eyebrows because it is more the excuse of a mercenary than a judge, but I want to explore Adler's donations in more detail with both of these in mind.

I searched as extesively as I could for all of Adler's donations from 1996 to 2008. Looking them over in their entirety, it is clear that he really will donate to anyone he thinks might be useful in the future. So he donated to Joan Millman, David Yassky and Marty Connor, all respectable Democrats. He also donated to Clarence Norman (now in jail), Frank Seddio (who resigned from the Surrogate Court in disgrace) and Vito Fossella (a Republican whose drunk driving and near bigamy have ruined his career). He also has donated to Al D'Amato, Rudy Giuliani and Marty Golden as well as the Conservative Party of NY, all right wingers. So where is the common ground from Joan Millman to Vito Fossella? Adler's donations reflect the efforts of someone who will do anything for a favor. Fine...but let's not forget that he also chooses not on blind party loyalty, but based on the individual. So he has chosen near bigamist Fossella, Clarence Norman (in prison) and Frank Seddio (resigne in disgrace). By his own admission he chose these individuals for themselves, so one can legitimately question his judgement...not something one wants in a judge.

But to me what is revealing is not the overall scatter of donations to anyone who can do him a favor. What is revealing is looking at who he choses to donate to the most and who he gives the most money to. Because at that point he is getting beyond a token donation to try and buy support. He is getting to real money which may well reflect his true values as opposed to the values he tells people.

Roger Adler's four most frequent donations since 1996 have been:

5 times donating to the NY State Conservative Campaign Committee
5 times donating to the Conservative Party of NY State
5 times donating to the Brooklyn Democrats
4 times donating to Marty Golden, Republican State Senator

Three out of his four most frequent donations were to right wing conservatives. Let that sink in.

Then, since 1996, his top donations in terms of hard cash (over $1000 cumulative) are as follows:

NY State Conservative Campaign Committee: a whopping $9000!
Republican Marty Golden: $4100
Conservative Party of NY State: $2200
Brooklyn Democrats: $1875
Eliot Spitzer: $1750

Adler's top three contributions were to right wing conservatives. In fact, about a third of his total contributions went to the NY State Conservative Campaign Committee...what favor was he expecting from that donation? Well over half his total donations were to right wing conservatives.

A couple of other points. The only Senate campaign Adler donated to was Al D'Amato (Republican) against Chuck Schumer. Not one donation to Hillary Clinton or Chuck Schumer. Just $300 for Al D'Amato AGAINST Chuck Schumer. If we take Adler's word for it, he supported D'Amato but has never thought Chuck Schumer worthy of support. That is his only monetary statement on where he stands on the US Senate.

The only Presidential campaign Adler donated to since 1996 was Rudy Giuliani. No donation to Bill Clinton. No donation to Al Gore. No donation to John Kerry. No donation even to Hillary Clinton. But he thought it worth his while to donate $500 to Rudy Giuliani. That is his ONLY monetary statement on where he stands regarding the US Presidency.

Now I don't necessarily hold past Republican support against someone. State Senator Eric Adams, who I support, used to be a Republican. Congressional Candidate Steve Harrison has supported Republicans, including Marty Golden, in the past. He did so in the context of a local fight over development issues in New York's most conservative area in an attempt to build a coalition (eventually successful) to preserve a Bay Ridge neighborhood. Since then Harrison has been a loyal Democrat.

Roger Adler has consistently supported conservatives more than Democrats since 1996. Overall, he has given far more to conservatives since 1996. And add to that work he did for the Conservative Party to challenge marriage equality in the courts and you have a consistent pattern of conservativism, excepting some local Democrats who might do him favors, from 1996 right up to his $500 donation to the NY State Conservative Campaign Committee and $300 to Marty Golden in 2006, and $500 to Rudy Giuliani and $500 to Marty Golden in 2007.

What does this pattern show about Roger Adler's values? What does it show about who he thinks he can get favors from?

For the record, I could find no donations given by Devin Cohen that went either to Republicans, right wing conservatives of any kind, people currently in jail or anyone who had to resign in disgrace.