NY Governor Rewards Judge Who Jailed Union Leader

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/5072

NY Governor Rewards Judge Who Jailed Union Leader - 01/16/07

By Doug Cunningham

New York Governor Elliot Spitzer has rewarded the judge who slammed New York City’s transit union with a huge fine and the jailing of its leader for striking to defend their pensions. Judge Theodore Jones has been appointed by Spitzer to New York’s highest court – the Court of Appeals. As Attorney General of New York, Spitzer had asked the judge to hold transit union president Roger Toussaint in contempt of court for refusing to immediately end the strike.



And this: http://www.nysun.com/article/46691

Strike-Stopping Judge Is Elevated By Eliot Spitzer

By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN
Staff Reporter of the Sun
January 15, 2007

Governor Spitzer's decision yesterday to elevate a judge in Brooklyn to the state's highest court signals Mr. Spitzer's willingness to break ranks with his supporters in organized labor.

The current opening on the seven-member Court of Appeals provides an early opportunity for Mr. Spitzer to begin his efforts to reshape the court, which grew increasingly conservative under Governor Pataki. The court, which sits in Albany, is expected to issue important rulings on the death penalty and gay marriage in the coming terms. Mr. Spitzer's choice for the vacancy, Theodore Jones of state Supreme Court in Brooklyn, is unlikely to encounter any resistance from the state Senate, which must confirm him.

Judge Jones was raised from relative obscurity in 2005, when he oversaw the case against the Transit Workers Union for its Christmastime strike. Judge Jones's decision to rule against the union meant that his candidacy was laden with more political implications than most of the other candidates whom Mr. Spitzer was considering for the Court of Appeals.

A professor at Albany Law School who closely follows the Court of Appeals, Vincent Bonventre, described Mr. Spitzer's decision to pick Judge Jones as "absolutely fascinating."

FULL story at link.

[Ignacio Upton]

1. Toussant still broke the law

The Taylor Law makes it illegal for NYS public employees to go on strike. While I disagree with the law, the Judge was doing his job. Politically, this won't hurt Spitzer, because that strike was NOT popular, especially with commuters.

[progdonkey]

2. Sounds like Spitzer is just trying to start off with a make-peace gesture...

I only know the general picture of Spitzer, but he always sounded like he had some strong labor/anti-monopoly bonafides, so this really just sounds like he wants to get his governorship off to a peaceful start by giving a prized bench position to a conservative.

I figure he knows he'll be able to "make up" for it with the left with numerous other actions throughout his time being governor, and throwing the conservatives a bone like this at the very beginning would also make it generally easier for him to carry out those "numerous other actions" with the legislature.

[democracyindanger]

3. Conservative?

On what do you base that categorization?

I don't know a lot about Jones, but I do know a lot about the New York Sun. And with a neoconservative rag like the Sun pushing this angle, I'll pass on making much of it.