Many think it's kind of a shame that we elect our judges in a way that means they have to raise money and campaign like every other office, but that's the system we have, so, as with every other office, it is up to us to help out the good candidates. (Adapted from a snail mail invitation):

A coalition of three local, community-oriented Democratic clubs, Lambda Independent Democrats (LID), Independent Neighborhood Democrats (IND, where I'm on the board), and Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID, where my wife is an officer), join together to invite you to a summer garden party fundraiser of Devin Cohen, our endorsed candidate for Civil Court, 1st district:

Wed. July 9, 2008
6:30-8:30 PM
at the home of Harley Diamond and Jonathan Lovett
363 Washington Ave., Clinton Hill, Brooiklyn

Compare and contrast the two candidates:

DEVIN COHEN:
*Strong supporter and friend of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and equality
*Lifelong reform Democrat who has only supported and worked for Democratic candidates and causes
*Appeared before and endorsed by Lambda Independent Democrats

Last night was the monthly meeting of the Independent Neighborhood Democrats and was the evening when my wife and I got in all the petitions we were working on. Of course we could do more petitioning, but I think we will be taking a break from that to catch up on our regular lives. But something has struck me as I have petitioned in three separate Election Districts and talked to people petitioning in a good half dozen other districts. One candidate who I have been watching out for because he is running against a friend of mine seems missing.

Today I received the summary of Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats' (CBID) first endorsement meeting of the year. This first meeting covered the Presidential election and uncontested local elections.

CBID endorsed Barack Obama. This doesn't surprise anyone because CBID's territory overlaps two of the districts in NYC that voted for Barack Obama: CD 10 (Ed Towns' district) and CD 11 (Yvette Clarke's district). CBID did not endorse prior to the primary because their membership was split among several candidates, predominantly John Edwards and Barack Obama with some support for Dennis Kucinich and even a little for Hillary Clinton. But now that it has narrowed down to two candidates, they decided to take the plunge.

Tonight was the annual dinner of the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID), an organization my wife is an officer of. First off, let me say we missed the annual dinner of the club I am on the board of, the Independent Neighborhood Democrats (IND), largely due to lack of time, money and a babysitter, and the fact that the IND dinner is much less convenient for us to get to. Generally I try to make it to both.

Joy and I arrived a bit late, so we missed some of the speeches. Yvette Clarke and Jerrold Nadler spoke before we made it. [CORRECTION: Nadler and Clarke were present for schmoozing purposes and did not give speeches]. Pity because they can both give a good speech and it would be interesting to have heard if either of them brought up impeachment, an issue dear to the club that Yvette and Jerrold disagree on.