Most insurgent Civil Court judges don’t even make it as far as Smallman. Lee Daghlian, spokesperson from the New York State Board of Elections explained the Civil Court process this way: “If you’re not chosen by the party in areas with strong party influence, it’s a tough job to petition by yourself. It kind of discourages competition.”

For that reason, nobody ever competes against the seated Civil Court justices.

This year, six uncontested incumbent judges will appear on the ballot in November. In Manhattan, they are Arthur Birnbaum, Eileen Rakower, Jane Solomon, Paul Feinman, and Michael Stallman; in Richmond County they are Barbara Panepinto and Philip S. Straniere.

None of these judges blinked during the primary. Since they were uncontested, their names didn’t even appear on the ballot — they received a free election pass for another ten years on the bench.
 

The Battle for Brooklyn

 
In a triumph for Assemblyman Vito Lopez, the leader who replaced Norman, as the party's picks secured the vacant Civil Court seats in Brooklyn.

 
In other primary results, two Manhattan attorneys scored Civil Court primary wins: Margaret A. Chan and Rita Mella. Kim Dollard won the Independent Party primary on Staten Island, but she will again face her opponent Frank Porzio, in the general election.

 
In Queens and Bronx, there were no Civil Court vacancies this year.

 
For more coverage, the Gotham Gazette ran the comprehensive 2006 Primary Election Results.

 
The Blogosphere Reacts
While none of these Civil Court races received much coverage in the mainstream press, they generated reams of posts in the blogosphere.

 
Over at the group blog, Room Eight, the blogger named Gatemouth endorsed Douglas and Williams for the Civil Court race in Brooklyn. Along the way, this blogger had a pre-primary suggestion for new ways to select judges: “My current idea is that potential judges put their profiles on JDate or Nerve.com and the voters can chose whether they’d like to do dinner, drinks, or just coffee before making a commitment, or just hop right into the sack.”

 
Another Room Eight blogger named Oneshirt generated a flurry of comments by analyzing the Brooklyn race. The blogger reported that those two seats are “a test of new county leader Vito Lopez's ability to bring all the battling factions in Brooklyn together.” It appears that Lopez succeeded, as his two choices, Douglas and Williams, won the primary.

 
Over at the sprawling political forum, The Daily Gotham blog, a variety of writers have reported on the Civil Court races this summer.

 
One blogger named Mole333 attended an endorsement meeting at the Independent Neighborhood Democrats, offering his personal take on the winning Brooklyn candidates. “[Douglas] combined both excellent qualifications and a qualified status by the independent board," he wrote. "Jacqueline Williams had the least impressive presentation style, but had excellent qualifications.”

His glowing review of Vito Lopez’s picks is surprising, since Mole333 has fierce dislike of “disgusting corruption of the County Committee.” This prolific Democratic blogger published an essay attacking party politics in Brooklyn a week before the primary.

At the end of August, Lisa Sabater—publisher of The Daily Gotham—weighed in with some commentary on the judicial races this year. "Why would we need to have these and not just a more democratic process for electing judges?" she asked. "Where are these people's resumes and CVs? At the moment of voting, how the hell am I going to know about them beyond the little blurb provided by the county election board?"

 
So far, nobody has answered her...