Mudslinging Seeps into Search for Court Judge in Peekskill
As the Peekskill Common Council narrows down its search for a new associate judge to serve in Peekskill City Court, Mayor Frank Catalina is pointing fingers at the Democratic majority for allegedly politicizing the process by favoring a candidate who has been an active campaign supporter.
The part-time associate judge position, a six-year term that carries with it an annual salary of $87,000, became vacant in August when Thomas Langan was forced to retire at the age of 70. Each of the seven councilmembers was asked to submit a list of their top five candidates from the approximately 22 hopefuls who applied.
Catalina, a practicing attorney for 35 years who did background checks on judicial candidates for the New York State Senate Judiciary Committee when George Pataki was governor, pushed for the weeding out of candidates to be done in public, but instead the interviews have been conducted in private.
“I wanted to make it public in the first place and they didn’t want to, and now I know why,” Catalina remarked this week. “What’s going on behind closed doors is just outrageous.”
During a recent private session when the three finalists for the position appeared before the Council, Catalina said Melissa Loehr, a Legal Aid Society attorney who formerly worked in Peekskill City Court, freely acknowledged speaking to all four Democratic councilmembers prior to the interview. That lobbying alone, according to Catalina, should disqualify Loehr from consideration.
“This is highly improper and clearly makes this process a political one, when that’s the very last thing it should be,” Catalina said. “She acknowledges being a lobbyist on her resume, and she acknowledges being political by giving them political and financial support. She was the only candidate interviewed who sought the advice of counsel (the city’s Corporation Counsel) before answering a simple yes/no question, and that has to be a first.”
Deputy Mayor Drew Claxton maintained Catalina was the only councilmember politicizing the process and conducting a smear campaign on Loehr.
“He has turned it into his own media circus, lobbying for some candidates and slamming others on social media and in the press, as if that is an appropriate process to select a judge. His behavior is an embarrassment to the city,” Claxton stated in an email. “That said, the ferocity of his attacks on a particular candidate, even before the deadline for the receipt of resumes and before any resume was reviewed, appears far more like a personal and preemptive strike than the reasoned review of a candidate’s qualifications.”
“It may be that the mayor should recuse himself here,” Claxton stated. “As both he and his daughter appear before the court representing local landlords and other interests, he may well have conflicting interests in this selection. As for me, and I would hope all council members, we will choose the judge we think is best qualified and meets the needs of Peekskill residents.”
The other two candidates, according to Catalina, are Cortlandt Town Justice Daniel McCarthy, currently serving his third term in office, and Lissette Fernandez, who has a law office in Peekskill and is a former assistant district attorney and deputy attorney general.
Catalina said McCarthy was “excellent and highly qualified,” but he raved about Fernandez’ qualifications and emphasized she would be “an historic appointment” as the first woman and first Hispanic to serve as a judge in Peekskill.
“She was a tornado of fresh air when she walked in,” Catalina said. “I think she was an Oh My God candidate. She is bilingual and has personally ‘tried’ over 40 cases as a lawyer (that’s a lot of trial experience!) She is non-political and deeply involved in our community, working, living and raising her family and operating her law office, all right here in Peekskill.”
It’s not clear when the council will vote on an appointment. Peekskill’s City Court Judge is Reginald Johnson, a Democrat, who was appointed in January 2014 to a 10-year term by a 6-0 vote (Catalina abstained).
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/