By Jeff Lipton
Judges have been prohibited from participating in political campaigns, including their own, but that has never stopped Raab, who believes that the restrictions strip judges of an important constitutional right, freedom of speech.
Judges should have the same rights as any other candidates, said Raab, 68, a Democrat and an outspoken member of the bench who has lived on Westwood Road in Woodmere for 43 years.
Judges should have the same rights as assemblymen and senators, Raab said in an exclusive interview from his chambers on Friday, Feb. 21.
The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, a 10-member state judicial panel, ruled on Wednesday, Feb. 19, that Raab violated a judge's code of conduct by operating a phone bank on behalf of Craig Johnson, Democratic candidate for the Nassau County Legislature, in March 2000, telephoning registered voters and encouraging them to vote for Johnson in the special election. At the time, Raab was a District Court judge.
Raab's motive for operating the phone bank was to generate goodwill within the party and to enhance his chances of being endorsed by the party later that year for Supreme Court, the commission wrote.
In addition, on Sept. 21, 1995, after winning the Democratic nomination for one of several available Supreme Court justice positions, Raab made out a personal check for $10,000 to the Nassau County Democratic Committee, which would have helped cover expenditures the party intended to make over a six-week period on behalf of Raab's candidacy. He suffered defeat in the November 1995 general election.
He also attended a meeting at which the Democratic Party was screening and interviewing candidates.
Raab's attorney, John R. Cuti of Manhattan, said he would appeal the commission's decision, which ultimately amounts to a public slap on the wrist. Raab's case received a boost on Thursday, Feb. 20, when a federal judge, in a separate case, tossed out most of the rules governing the behavior of judicial candidates during their own campaigns. The judge said it denied judicial candidates their constitutional rights to free speech.
I'm delighted, Raab said. Judges should be like any other candidates. The feeling is that there is judicial impropriety and that judges can't be independent if they are campaigning. This case shows that this has nothing to do with the independence of the judiciary.
Cuti said the federal ruling is certainly going to help. I'm even more confident now that we will win this decision in the Court of Appeals.
Raab has a history of breaking with judicial tradition. He was arrested in 1995 for distributing his own campaign literature in front of an Elmont Church, but those charges were later dismissed.
Also in the Commission on Judicial Conduct's report, Raab, who was elected to the State Supreme Court in November 2000, is accused of threatening attorney Kenneth Lauri on April 9, 2001 during oral arguments involving the equitable distribution of property following a divorce case. When Lauri expressed disagreement with one of Raab's rulings, the judge told the attorney he would be on the bench for 11 more years and that he had a long memory and would remember what Lauri's firm had done should it appear before him on other matters.
I didn't say it in that context, Raab said. [Lauri] didn't realize I was just kidding him.
Contacted at his law office, Lauri refused to comment on the matter. I don't want to continue this, OK? he said.
The commission gave strong consideration to removing Raab from the bench, but opted for censure and a strong admonishment for his actions.
[Raab's] threatening, intimidating statements to an attorney and his partisan political activity violated well-established ethical standards and represent a significant departure from the proper role of a judge, the Commission concluded in its report.
Raab has been known to do things in an unorthodox manner. The judge got into hot water about three years ago when he rented a closed-circuit TV camera for $100 a month to put a halt to vandalism that occurred in his courtroom. In response to at least 20 incidents in a five-month period, Raab installed the motion-sensor camera, drawing the wrath of the Nassau County Court Officers Benevolent Association, which said the camera violated the privacy of court workers.
