INVESTIGATION PROMPTS SOUTHPORT TOWN JUSTICE TO STEP DOWN
The Commission on Judicial Conduct has given John Taft, Southport Town Court Justice, his walking papers.  A January 2008 complaint alleged that Taft had violated three rules of judicial conduct while overseeing a 2003 case in which his personal physician was accused of speeding: (1) Failing to disqualify himself despite his ties to the defendant; (2) Initiating ex parte communications with the defendant; (3) Sua sponte adjourning the case “in Contemplation of Dismissal.” Though he admitted to the conduct in question in his 2008 answer to the complaint, Taft denied having violated any rules of judicial conduct — but he agreed to resign and never pursue judicial office again. He will step down on May 31.  -L.N.
 
COMPLAINT CUTTING
The Commission on Judicial Conduct pared down its backlog by 14 percent last year, says its newly released 2008 annual report.  According to The New York Law Journal, CJC administator Robert H. Tembeckjian attributed the cut to last year’s budget increase, which, he says, “should enable the commission to even further reduce its backlog this year and, in general, bring its inquiries to a close more promptly absent an unexpected surge in new complaints.” Of the record 1,711 complaints the commission received in 2007, 328 were filed against part-time town and village justices, of whom 241, or 73.5 percent, are not lawyers. Close to 90 percent of the complaints were dismissed.  -J.S.

BULGARIA BOUND 
Newsday relates last November’s Bulgarian odyssey of Eastern District Judge Nicholas Garaufis. A member of a trip sponsored by the U.S. Departments of Justice and State to encourage judicial and justice reform in a country dominated by organized crime, Garaufis — who has presided over much of the Bonanno crime family litigation for the past decade — lamented that the Bulgarian legislature hasn’t afforded prosecutors and the courts the tools to effectively prosecute corruption and mob cases. (For example, bribery cases can only be prosecuted if both the recipient and giver of the bribe are arrested, a procedure that prevents witness cooperation.) In an interview, Garaufis recalls a question he was asked by a Bulgarian law student: “Had I ever been offered a bribe in a case I had been handling — that told me volumes about their concerns.” (His answer was no.)  -J.S.

HOOP SQUEEMS  
From today’s New York Times comes word that, in preparation for his sentencing, disgraced former N.B.A. official Tim Donaghy — convicted of passing inside information to gamblers — has submitted a brief to Eastern District Judge Carol B. Amon that details information he previously provided about other league misconduct that had “prevented games from being played on a level playing field.” In a footnote to the document, Donaghy’s attorney, John Lauro suggested that the N.B.A. might have “pressured” the United States Attorney’s Office “into shutting down this prosecution to avoid the disclosure of information unrelated to Tim’s conduct.” The N.B.A. quickly denounced the filing. “The letter filed today on Mr. Donaghy’s behalf contains an assortment of lies, unfounded allegations and facts that have been previously acknowledged, such as the fact that certain N.B.A. referees engaged in casino gambling in violation of N.B.A. rules,” Joel Litvin, the N.B.A. president for league and basketball operations, said in a statement. “The letter is the desperate act of a convicted felon who is hoping to avoid prison time, and the only thing it proves is that Mr. Donaghy is no more trustworthy today than he was when he was breaking the law by betting on N.B.A. games.”  -J.S.