Judge takes a plea

[grump]

The judge takes a plea, the judge takes a plea, hi ho the dairyo the judge takes a plea. Everybody sing! Michalek pleads guilty to 2 felonies as reported by Ch 2 news. Maybe he should take it on the lam before sentencing like brother Jim.

[nogods]

I think it was Judge Holmes (or maybe Cardozo) who said something like "It's a mistake to assume that a black robe is a shield from whatever diseases infect the rest of the population."

The same is true of all professions - priests, cops, teachers, doctors,, veterans or and all groups to which we tend to ascribe positive characteristics.

The real disturbing part is that this particular judge was so highly regarded in the legal community. If he could be involved in such unsavory crimes, then any supreme court judge, county court judge, city court judge, or town justice could also be as crooked.

A judge's reputation is now meaningless.

[grump]

nogods, I place absolutely no value on public statements made by the legal community about sitting judges. No lawyer would ever run the risk of suggesting that a judge is crooked or incompetent knowing that he or she may have to appear before that judge or his colleagues. When people talk about the cops they talk about the "blue wall"...that's nothing compared to the curtain that surrounds the operation of the courts and shields it from meaningful public review. I do expect that office of court administration will issue a memorandum advising court personnel that court system computers should not be used when discussing bribes and other exchanges of favors.

[grump]

I have a couple of lawyer friends and I'll have to give them a call. My sense is that, like most people, they've worked hard to do their best in their jobs. I wonder how it feels to know that all that hard work can be set to nothing by a judge who's willing to trade his decision making for jobs for family and some hockey tickets. I wonder if they're questioning how far it really goes.

[WNYresident]

Day after judge admits to bribery, political operative Pigeon indicted on nine charges

G. Steven Pigeon, one of upstate New York’s most powerful political operatives whose campaign activities have spawned controversy for more than two decades, was in court Thursday morning where he was arraigned on nine separate charges including bribery and extortion, rewarding official misconduct and grand larceny in the third degree.

The former Erie County Democratic chairman appeared in a packed State Supreme Court on Thursday morning before State Supreme Court Justice Donald F. Cerio Jr. of the Syracuse judicial district to answer the flip side of bribery charges that resulted in two guilty pleas and the resignation of former Supreme Court Justice John A. Michalek on Wednesday.

http://politicsnow.buffalonews.com/2...appears-court/

[WNYresident]

Pigeon associate Kristy Mazurek eyes run for Wozniak’s Assembly seat

A central figure in the state-federal probe surrounding political operative G. Steven Pigeon is now preparing to run for the Assembly.

Kristy L. Mazurek, a longtime Pigeon associate, has asked for Working Families Party backing and those close to her say she is preparing to mount a Democratic primary candidacy for the 143rd District seat being vacated by Republican Angela M. Wozniak.

Mazurek’s effort begins just as state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman has empaneled a special grand jury in Buffalo to probe possible crimes stemming from a political committee called the WNY Progressive Caucus that she administered during the 2013 Democratic primary campaign. The fund gave about $267,000 to several anti-organization Democrats favored by Pigeon.

http://www.buffalonews.com/city-regi...-seat-20160520

[nogods]

My guess is that Mazurek is the "pigeon" helping the investigators. I'm guessing someone on the inside had to give the investigators sufficient information to support a search warrant for what would have been private emails, unless the parties were already under electronic surveillance. That insider could have been Mazurek. Maybe she got caught and was squeezed, or maybe she felt Pigeon crossed the line of political operatives.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

Here is the thing that is shocking to me. All of this appears to have been done for a couple of sets of Sabres tickets, a job or two for family members and $1000. This guy threw away a job paying close to $200k for that.

I guess it's just arrogance because I can't think of any other reason you would risk so much for so little.

[nogods]

Remember when the Buffalo Chronicles claimed the investigation was a political witch hunt? https://webcache.googleusercontent.c...&ct=clnk&gl=us

[grump]

Caught the end of the AG's presser on the investigation. I thought he said that office of court administration is looking at a number of cases handled by that judge. To what end? To see if he was screwing some litigants just for the hell of it instead of for hockey tickets?

[grump]

Here is the thing that is shocking to me. All of this appears to have been done for a couple of sets of Sabres tickets, a job or two for family members and $1000. This guy threw away a job paying close to $200k for that.

I guess it's just arrogance because I can't think of any other reason you would risk so much for so little.

Leftie, if they play their cards right they can stay on the job til they're 76 if they want to. That means he threw away as much as $2 million. Hope he enjoyed those hockey games. They're probably the most expensive hockey tickets in world history.

[WNYresident]

Think he had enough time in to receive his pension? Making almost 200k must have one hell of a pension payment.

[grump]

He vested his pension years ago. He's been a judge for what...20 years and he was a DA & spent time as town supervisor and town attorney. It all counts.

[WNYresident]

I got into the wrong business. I should have because a "public servant" and milked it.

[grump]

Finally circled back around to blabber with a lawyer buddy about this whole mess. He shared with me a blast email sent by the president of the county bar association. It was sent on July 4 weekend, the standard tactic for getting out news one doesn't want noticed. Some of it was standard " inside baseball" stuff about the transfer of cases from Judge Felon to other judges. (Interestingly enough, the transfer information was provided by the chief judge who couldn't remember for the life of her how the corrupted cases came to be moved to Judge Felon in the first place.) The truly stunning part to me was the conclusion, some of which appeared in the fish wrap, that the bar shouldn't judge harshly but should be thankful for the judge's many years of service. Not one expression of concern that members of his association have been playing in a fixed game for years. All right, who cares about the lawyers. But what about the clients who unknowingly, were playing in a fixed game and may have lost real money because of this scam. Not a single word about them. This just struck me as a strange reaction that seemed to miss the central issue this scandal involves about the fair administration of justice.