The Song Remains the Same
By John Ennis
Posted 10-20-2006
In this week’s lead story, The Friends of Vito Lopez, the Institute for Judicial Studies examined the process of campaign fund raising as it pertains to judges.
During the past year, events have occurred that are likely to change the manner in which Supreme Court judges are selected.
First, former Assemblyman Clarence Norman was convicted of abusing party funds. Norman had also been Chairman of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, essentially holding all power to nominate the borough’s judicial candidates. Norman was replaced last October by Vito Lopez.
Second, a federal court decision declared the aforementioned Supreme Court selection system unconstitutional. New York is now under court order to design a new method for the 2007 election cycle. LexMetrics wondered if either of these events had affected the practice of judges donating to the Brooklyn Democratic Party Chairman.
IJS perused Clarence Norman’s donors since 1999, searching for sitting judges. Here are the numbers:
Number of Amount
YEAR Judges Raised
1999 20 $7,905
2000 15 $3,400
2001 14 $3,975
2002 18 $8,725
2003 16 $3,025
2004 10 $2,350
2005 6 $1,415
2006 0 $ -
As Norman entered the criminal justice system, his judicial contributions (no surprise) tapered off. Nevertheless, from 1999-2005 Norman averaged about $4400 a year from judges. Vito Lopez became the Democratic chairman in late 2005. Here’s how much money he’s raised from the bench, thus far, in 2006:
Number Amount
of judges Raised
2006 18 $6600
Of course, judges might be donating to Vito Lopez because he’s also an Assemblyman. But had they donated to his campaigns in the past? IJS looked at Lopez’s judicial donations going back to 1999:
Number of Amount
YEAR Judges Raised
1999 1 $250
2000 2 $600
2001 0 $ -
2002 1 $300
2003 0 $ -
2004 1 $300
2005 1 $300
2006 18 $6,600
Source: New York State Board of Elections