The Bronx Democrats held a judicial convention and an organizational meeting of the county committee on Sept. 20, nominating judges to the eight county Supreme Court positions and filling party committee positions. Hundreds of Democrats turned out to represent their communities at the gathering held at Eastwood Manor.

Two Bronx Supreme Court judges, Robert Torres and Mary Ann Briganti, were re-elected to their posts as criminal term judges. Eddy McShan and Julio Rodriguez III, both acting criminal term judges, were nominated to compete for their positions. Four civil court judges — Ben Barbato, Llinet Rosado, Marsha Michael and Elizabeth Taylor — were nominated for criminal term posts. All eight nominations were uncontested and unanimously by voice vote.

But absent on the ballot was Councilman Andrew Cohen, who had expressed interest in becoming a judge, as reported by the Norwood News.

“I think you heard stories of men and women who represent the very best of us,” Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, the Bronx Democratic Party boss, said in a fiery speech to end the night. “Who are examples to our children who have earned this and deserved this and are amazing jurists.”

Crespo took aim at critics in the speech who took onus with the process of picking judicial nominees. On the morning of the convention, the New York Daily News published an editorial calling it “an awful ugly process” out of the “Boss Tweed” era of New York City politics. Due to overwhelming Democratic Party unity and participation in the borough, Bronx judicial nominees nearly always run unopposed.

“I am proud of the approach,” Crespo said. “And I am proud of the fact that we have these incredible leaders, who I believe have been insulted by those who are out there claiming that this process is a sham and that the people who get nominated are political hacks.”

A large source of the criticism came from speculation in the days following the Sept. 14 primary that state Senator Jeff Klein, who lost in a race to progressive Democratic Alessandra Biaggi, who was there before the party committee meeting began, would be selected for one of the judgeships. Klein represents Senate District 34, which stretches from Riverdale to the East Bronx. He was not in attendance at the judicial convention.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, who is also the Bronx Democratic Party secretary and a member of the judicial committee, told the New York Post that Klein moving into one of the judgeships would be a “natural assumption.”

Crespo denied Klein was in line for a judicial nomination on Twitter, a version of events that’s been disputed by at least several party members. Crespo then told City & State that it would be “tone deaf” to nominate Klein in light of the sexual assault allegation levied at U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. In January, Klein was accused of forcibly kissing a staffer in 2015.

“Yes, I stood with Jeff because we worked so close together in my community,” Crespo said in his speech at the convention, pointing out that Klein won 70 percent of the vote in his Assembly District. But the Democratic leader went on to pledge party unity. “The voters spoke. They didn’t appreciate something. They chose another candidate. We congratulate our Democratic nominee in Alessandra Biaggi. We will work with her.”

Crespo, judicial power broker Stanley K. Schlein, and Assemblywoman Latoya Joyner were elected to the “Committee to Fill Vacancies” at the end of the night. That committee is granted unilateral authority to fill judicial vacancy nominations, including the several spots on the Bronx Civil Court that opened due to judges being nominated for criminal court positions. In July, the Norwood News reported Councilman Cohen would be considered for one of those spots in order to open up his City Council seat for Eric Dinowitz, district leader in the 81st Assembly District and son of Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz. The younger Dinowitz told the Norwood News in August he had formed a campaign committee to “be prepared for when Andy Cohen steps down” from his 11th Council District seat.

Bronx Supreme Court justices make $208,000 a year and serve 14-year terms. Civil Court judges make $193,500 a year and serve ten-year terms.

Calls for Increased Party Transparency Fall Flat
The first part of the evening at Eastwood Manor was more eventful, if less consequential than the judicial convention. Hundreds showed up to partake in an evening of party celebration and pre-determined nominations read off slips of paper at the Bronx Democratic County Committee organizational meeting. It took an hour for party members to file in.

Still, the event included only a fraction of the thousands of people who are “Bronx Democratic County Committee members.” The Norwood News published an explainer on what it means to be a member back in June.

“While it is very Democratic, it is not very open, which sounds very strange,” Michael Beltzer, co-founder of the progressive advocacy group, Local Democrats of NY, said. Beltzer led a coalition of Local New York Democrats and Bronx Progressives in challenging the otherwise pre-coordinated event. “What we’re really here to build is the infrastructure for there to be more engagement, for there to be more communication, for there to be more information being shared and not just dictated ‘hey, this is what we decided so this what we’re going to do.’”

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.