Election 2015: Local Candidates Walsh, Delaney Vie for State Supreme Court Seat
The race on Tuesday for the open seat in the state Supreme Court’s Ninth Judicial District includes five counties in the lower Hudson Valley but the election has a distinctly local flavor.
Democrat Gretchen Walsh, a Pleasantville resident, is up against Republican nominee and Katonah resident Montgomery Delaney for the 14-year term. Both candidates point to their experience as being the reason why they would be the best choice to fill the seat in the district, which covers all of Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess and Orange counties.
As the principal court attorney to the Ninth Judicial District’s Administrative Judge Alan Scheinkman, Walsh, 53, said she has expansive knowledge of how the court operates and what it takes to be a state Supreme Court justice. Before working for Scheinkman, she served as principal attorney to two other state Supreme Court justices since 2003 – Jonathan Lippmann, who was at the time the chief administrative judge of the state’s United Court System, and Mary Smith.
Before working for the court system, Walsh was a litigator for the Manhattan law firm of Kelley Drye & Warren, LLC from 1987 to 2003. She said being “the right arm” to three state Supreme Court justices gives her a strong perspective of what it takes to do the job.
“I know everything there is to know about how to manage a court calendar, what the issues are, the legal issues, the evidentiary issues,” said Walsh, who lives with her husband, John. The couple has a daughter and son, the youngest of whom is in college.
“I understand what it means to be a practitioner and I understand there’s friction there because the judge wants to keep the calendar, keep moving but the participants have their case load obligations and you can’t put them in a bind,” Walsh added.
Delaney, 58, who served in the Marines and is a former New York City police officer, is an attorney with a private practice in White Plains handling criminal, family and personal injury cases for clients. He said he would ensure that the courts work for everybody by weighing the law, legal precedents and facts in each instance.
“I’ve protected people as a police officer, I’ve protected people as a lawyer. This is my lot in life and I want to protect people as a judge,” said Delaney, the father of five children. “I’ve been looking out for people my whole life.”
Both candidates are also trying to overcome political hurdles to win this seat, one of 34 in the Ninth Judicial District. Delaney narrowly lost an election by about 3.5 percent for a seat in the same district last year and was defeated two years ago for a Westchester County court seat. As the Republican endorsement, he is faced with overcoming a lopsided Democratic registration advantage in Westchester, which was a key factor in his defeat last year.
Walsh, who has eyed a run for the seat for a few years, has had to ingratiate herself with influential Democrats throughout the region. She was unable to do much hobnobbing with party leaders and as an employee of the court was prohibited from giving more than $250 in total political contributions a year. She had to outwork six other Democratic hopefuls for the nomination and wasn’t officially named the party’s until Sept. 24.
“Somebody looks at you like who are you? Why should we help you?” Walsh said of the initial frosty reaction in some political circles. “We have these people who have been district leaders for years and I’ve been at it so it’s been a little bit of a hurdle for me to get myself liked enough and well-known enough.”
Delaney, who has received the endorsement of the New York State Supreme Court Officers Association, said that he has the most trial experience.
“I’m the only candidate in this race that has tried cases to a verdict,” Delaney said.
Walsh, a former Pleasantville Planning Commission member, has received highly qualified ratings from two independent judicial screening committees. She said that most of her opponent’s experience is in law enforcement and criminal work. While the state Supreme Court hears criminal cases in Manhattan that is not the case in Westchester and most of the Ninth Judicial District caseload includes zoning issues, medical malpractice matters and matrimonial and election law disputes.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/