The Jewish Press — February 2016

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New York Top Court Has New Pistol-Packing Chief Judge

A 33-year stretch of Jewish chief judges on the New York State Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, has come to a screeching halt with the swearing-in of former Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore, 60, a Republican-turned-Democrat. DiFiore’s husband, Dennis Glazer, a retired lawyer, told The Jewish Press he grew up as a Conservative Jew but his children were brought up Catholic.

DiFiore is the only child of Italian immigrants, raised in Mount Vernon. She graduated from Mount Vernon High School, C.W. Post College at Long Island University, and St. John’s University School of Law. DiFiore and Glazer met on the first day of law school, and married in 1981. DiFiore and Glazer, Bronxville residents, are the parents of three children, Alexandra, Joseph, and Michael, all now adults.

During her confirmation hearing, DiFiore acknowledged she has a pistol permit and carries a gun.

Since 1869 there have been 115 jurists on the Court of Appeals. Since 1914 there have only been 12 Jewish jurists on the high court including associate judges Samuel Rabin, Jacob Fuchsberg, Bernard Meyer, Howard Levine, Albert Rosenblatt, and Leslie Stein along with Chief Judges Benjamin Cardozo, Irving Lehman, Stanley Fuld, Sol Wachtler, Judith Kaye, and Jonathan Lippman.

“As a Jew I’m proud of all the great judicial talent that’s been on the court and that tradition will, I’m sure, continue,” Lippman told The Jewish Press. Lippman was forced to step down because he reached the mandatory retirement age of 70.

Associate Judge Leslie Stein says she doesn’t think of her colleagues in an ethnic or religious way.

“We are all just trying to do the same thing which is to achieve justice and as we may at times disagree we are not disagreeable. It’s a wonderful hard-working group of jurists,” she said.

Health Commissioner Earns Outside Income

New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker earns $136,000 a year in his post overseeing a $64 billion agency aimed at providing and protecting the health care for all New Yorkers. However, most people do not know about Health Research, Inc., a little-known not-for-profit agency based in the Albany suburb of Menands, NY, where Zucker holds the title of board president for which he earns a second income.

At a recent health care budget hearing Zucker, 56, told Assembly Health Committee member Andrew Goodell (R – Jamestown, Chautauqua County) he did not know exactly how much he earns as board president of HRI but said it is around $50,000 to $60,000 annually. Attempts to extract an exact amount of the compensation from the agency were not successful. The organization boasts a $700 million annual budget, according to the 2014 IRS 990 form filed by HRI.

While the Cuomo administration is seeking to limit outside income for state lawmakers there does not seem to be a definitive answer as to whether that would include a situation such as Dr. Zucker’s.

Schumer, Cuomo Opponents Surface

Republican opponents are lining up to challenge U.S. Senator Charles Schumer this year and Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2018. Although the adversaries are not well known, you will be hearing their names later this year.

Lining up to take on Schumer is Frank Spotorno, a Yonkers resident. Spotorno is the CEO and founder of Park Avenue Elevator Designs, a company that constructs elevator cabs. Spotorno says he wants to give Schumer a run for his money because he doesn’t want the Brooklyn-born Democrat to go unopposed.

Spotorno may not have to worry. Also looking to go to Washington representing New York is Wendy Long, 55, who took on the state’s junior senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, in 2012, losing by 46 percentage points, the largest margin of defeat for any statewide candidate in New York history. The Manhattan-based attorney is expected to decide next month whether or not to run. She is the darling of the state Conservative Party.

Schumer, 66, is expected to become the next Senate Democratic leader when Sen. Harry Reid retires from the post. Schumer says he is not taking his popularity or his $22 million campaign fund for granted.

“The day someone feels they’re invincible is the day they are on the path to losing,” Schumer told The Jewish Press. “I’m working hard. I work hard because that’s my nature.”

Schumer received 64 percent of the vote in 2010, garnering more than three million votes. In three elections, Schumer says the only county he never carried was rural Hamilton county, population 5,000. His top staffer in his New York City office once told Schumer the reason he never carried Hamilton was that after visiting the Adirondack-based county six times “it’s the only county where he actually met every single voter.” In 2010 Schumer faced little-known Jay Townsend, who received only 31 percent of the vote.

Seeking to oust Governor Cuomo in 2018 are four Republicans: Congressman Chris Gibson, 51, of historic Kinderhook, Columbia county; businessman Harry Wilson, 44, of Scarsdale, Westchester county; Buffalo school board member and real estate magnate Carl Paladino, 69; and Cuomo’s 2014 nemesis, 48-year old Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino.

About the Author: Marc Gronich is news director of Statewide News Service. He also operates the website JBizTechValley.com. He has been covering government and politics since 1981. His Albany Beat column appears monthly in The Jewish Press.