Originally Posted - October 15, 2005

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Judicial accountability.

Legal ethics.

We have long held a concern that double standards are exercised by public officers in regard to the law---particularly judges, prosecutors and the police.

You see, we endorse the "theory" that no one is above the law and that those who sit in judgment of others should be in full compliance with the law themselves, held to a rigid, higher standard. Practice what they preach, in other words.

In Essex County, the offices of county court judge and district attorney will be filled at the Nov. 1 election. The race for Essex County district attorney has become a real catfight, with assistant district attorney Debra Whitson taking it to the gutter with statements in her political advertisements directed towards her opponent, Julie Garcia. Garcia decisively won the Republican nomination in the September primary and is the endorsed candidate of the Essex County Republican Committee.

Whitson remained in the race, running as a Conservative and Independent.

But more on that in a bit and the charges now against Whitson for allegedly using the resources of the district attorney's office in her campaign.

We always have a real concern about judges on the bench who not only don't comply with the law but obviously don't have the first clue about certain aspects of law. It's either total ignorance or the cavalier attitude that the law is what they say it is because they have the black robe and gavel.

We are deeply concerned with the now unopposed candidacy of Essex County attorney Richard Meyer for county court judge. He won the Republican nomination for the judicial seat from current district attorney Ronald Briggs in the September primary and Briggs then opted to drop his challenge for the position.

According to published reports, with only days to go before election, Meyer has suddenly resigned as county attorney because he's violating the Hatch Act. Hello----this individual is the county attorney and he's going to be the judge and it took him all this time to figure out that he's violating the Hatch Act by seeking elected public office while serving as the county attorney?

If we were an Essex County taxpayer, we wouldn't feel too confident about the job he's been doing as county attorney. Just how many other laws has he been skirting. Ignorance of the law is no excuse and it's pretty unsettling when it's the county attorney who's breaking the law. Why did it take this long for the light bulb to come on and Meyer to decide he's breaking the law? Or did he think he was above the law?

Seems that Meyer knew about the Hatch Act having been notified by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel after someone filed an anonymous complaint against him but instead of doing the right thing and resigning, he chose to thumb his nose at the public, chancing it out but when the investigation was complete and Washington told him he was in violation, only then did he submit his resignation. That type of person should not sit in judgment of others, Richard Meyer is not fit to wear the black robe in our opinion.

The Office of Special Counsel told Meyer that he could either resign as county attorney or else drop out of the race. Considering that he's been in violation of the Hatch Act since he entered the partisan race for judge, we think Meyer should repay to the taxpayers the portion of his $119,000 annual salary from the time he first started circulating his petitions and engaging in partisan political activity. After all, Mr. Meyer, THAT'S THE LAW!!

"As county attorney you provide services and administrative support to (the county) Department of Social Services and DSS seeks reimbursement from federal grants for the costs of that support", the Washington-based Counsel's office told Meyer. "In addition, two of your subordinate employees solely provide legal services to DSS and DSS seeks reimbursement from federal grants for the cost of those services".

Either Meyer is plain stupid---not a good attribute for a judge but one that many have---or he is sly like a fox. Neighboring Warren County had a similar situation involving a Lake Luzerne councilwoman and a Johnsburg town justice. Ralph Dubay, town justice, works for the Warren County DSS as a welfare examiner and was told by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel that if he sought reelection as judge while still employed by DSS that he would be criminally prosecuted. The councilwoman, also a Warren County DSS employee, was told the same thing.

So did Meyer think there are double standards? That the law doesn't apply to him?

As coordinator of the New York State Oaths Project, we had dealings with Richard Meyer and the Freedom of Information Law. Mr. Meyer didn't seem to want to comply with the existing provisions of Public Officers Law as it relates to the public's right to know and governmental access. Between him and the county clerk, they threw up every roadblock possible to stop the public from learning if the town justices, county judge and other public officers in the county were legally in office and had legally filed their oath of office and bond. Meyer didn't seem to feel that it was anyone's business and tried to make it cost prohibitive for anyone to find out. His demeanor as a public servant was not what one would want in a judicial robe with his defiant attitude of non-compliance and roadblocks to accessibility. He ought to be a real treat to adjudicate any cases brought in the county dealing with FOIL and the public's right to know.

Meyer has already demonstrated to us that he doesn't think public officers should have to comply with Public Officers Law and it appears that many of the town and village justices in Essex County weren't even in office because they hadn't timely filed their oath of office. As county attorney, Meyer should have been immediately concerned about non-compliance instead of trying to skirt the law.

If he was aware of the provisions of the Hatch Act, he was going to ignore it. Whatever the case, taxpayers should be extremely concerned that Richard Meyer is unopposed for the office as judge as he either deliberately violated the law until someone caught him or he didn't know the law-either is very troublesome.

Meyer only submitted his resignation as county attorney after he was notified on Wednesday that he was in violation of the federal Hatch Act which is a criminal offense if it's proven that he continued in the position of county attorney knowing that he was violating the law. The Hatch Act prohibits government employees who are paid with federal funds from participating in partisan political activities. Seeking the Republican nomination for the office of county judge and then seeking that office as a Republican is definitely partisan political activity.

There's a huge question of ethics in the prosecutorial arena as well with the recent antics of Debra Whitson.

Whitson's campaign ads, published in Essex County newspapers, said that Julie Garcia was an admitted drug user and that she had lived with a convicted cocaine dealer----albeit that supposedly happened nearly 20 years ago. Why is Whitson slinking to such low levels of mud-slinging? What happened to the issues, Whitson or is Julie Garcia's professional reputation so clean that you decided to attack the personal reputation. Those kind of political tactics are unacceptable and despicable. And Whitson is claiming she has the kind of integrity needed to be the chief law enforcement officer of the county as district attorney? Uh-uh. No way.

Garcia has been honest and admitted to using drugs in her youth but says that Whitson's allegation that she lived with a convicted cocaine dealer is wholly false and she has hired Lake Placid attorney Jim Brooks, planning a defamation suit against Whitson.

And now surfaces the issue of allegations that there has been a mass e-mailing in support of Whitson sent from computers in the district attorney's office. According to the county policy manual, personal and certainly political use of county computers is prohibited.

Thomas Scozzafava, Moriah supervisor, says he thinks the mass e-mailing was done during office hours but he claims that it's not Whitson who did the deed. Scozzafava has asked the county personnel officer to compare the time the e-mails were sent with employee time sheets to determine if the e-mails were sent during working hours.

Unbelievably, the county has asked district attorney Ronald Briggs to investigate the matter. That's like asking the fox to guard the hen house. Whitson is alleged to have had a personal relationship with Briggs which immediately establishes a conflict of interest in Briggs impartially investigating ANYTHING involving Whitson. Briggs has reportedly said that the emails and a color flyer supporting Whitson didn't come from the DA's office. Briggs says that the employee who is accused of sending them out didn't do so on county time but rather did so from her home computer.

There's not much Essex County voters can do at this stage to block the election of Richard Meyer but they can, and we believe they will, eliminate Debra Whitson from the DA's office by electing Julie Garcia. Meyers has already demonstrated a problem with ethics. Citizens will have to be vigilant and watch how he performs judicial duties and not hesitate to take action if he violates the law again.
10-21-05

© 2005 North Country Gazette