This was in the Kingston Times 9/30/09
Stop the smear of Schneer
Less than 24 hours after Judge Deborah Schneer won confirmation as our next Ulster County Court judge, the Ulster County Republican Party predictably kicked off its mud-slinging with baseless attacks against this outstanding judge.
On the night of July 16, 2009, Judge Schneer was unanimously confirmed by the New York State Senate to serve as our County Court judge. Even Kingston's own Republican state senator, Bill Larkin, voted for her. Schneer had previously been nominated by Governor Paterson after a judicial screening committee in Albany found her to be "highly qualified."
Never one to let facts get in the way of an attack, the very next day, in the face of the overwhelming bi-partisan support for Judge Schneer, our local Republican County Chair Mario Catalano issued a statement calling her appointment a "mockery" of the Ulster County Court. He then carefully mischaracterized a 20-year-old case in which a prisoner appealed having to appear in front of a jury shackled hand and foot. (Schneer did not "sue the taxpayers of New York" as Catalano claimed.) By seeking to undermine the public's faith in our judiciary, Catalano has decided to launch his campaign from the bottom of the gutter. The public can only hope that the Republicans won't dig any lower.
Not surprisingly, Catalano had not a single positive thing to say about his own candidate, Don Williams. This is telling. After all, just two years ago, the Republicans rejected Williams' bid for Kingston City Court judge. Now, they want to put him on the far more important County Court bench, despite his lack of judicial experience. Without a positive message, the Republican campaign apparently will consist of nothing but angry attacks. The citizens of this county should not elect as a judge the standard-bearer of angry partisans.
Deborah Schneer has 25 years of diverse legal experience throughout the Hudson Valley and beyond, giving her broad exposure to all facets of our legal system. Her opponent spent his whole career in one job. Deborah Schneer has years of judicial experience, balancing the interests of all parties who came before her and earning respect from both sides of the aisle. Her opponent has never been a judge - never presided over a single case in his life and has only been a court-room partisan.
Catalano's is only the first of what will surely be many Republican temper tantrums over imagined flaws. The public knows better. Deborah Schneer is the experienced judge we need in Ulster County's toughest court.
Julian D. Schreibman
Chair
Ulster County Democratic Committee
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Schneer appointed County Judge (from the Daily Freeman)
Governor taps Dem candidate to be new Ulster County judge
Thursday, June 18, 2009
By KYLE WIND
Freeman staff
KINGSTON — Deborah Schneer, a town of Rochester justice and the Democratic candidate in this fall’s election for Ulster County judge, has been appointed to the county bench by Gov. David Paterson.
Schneer is to succeed J. Michael Bruhn, who retired in April, and would be the first woman to serve as the county’s judge.
Her appointment could be held up, however, because it requires confirmation by the state Senate, which has not conducted any business since an attempted Republican takeover of the chamber last week and which now finds itself gridlocked with 31 members on each side of the political aisle.
Ulster County Democratic Chairman Julian Schreibman said he’s hoping for a quick confirmation of Schneer, but he conceded it’s "difficult to know for sure" how soon she will be able to preside over County Court proceedings.
Schneer, in a telephone interview on Wednesday, said she was "thrilled and honored to have received the appointment by the governor to the important post of county judge."
Schneer was nominated by county Democrats on June 8 to run for the judgeship, which has a 10-year term and a current salary of $131,400 per year. She was chosen over New Paltz Town Justice Jonathan Katz and Shandaken Town Justice Michael Miranda.
The following day, Schreibman called the governor’s office to recommend Schneer be appointed to the judgeship for the remainder of 2009.
The winner of the November election — in which the Republican candidate is former Ulster County District Attorney Donald A. Williams — will begin serving on Jan. 1, 2010.
Williams was nominated by county Republicans on June 1 over town of Ulster Justice Marsha Weiss and attorney Michael Kavanagh Jr.
Schneer, 50, has been one of Rochester’s two town justices since 2006 and has had a law practice in Rosendale since 2003.
As county judge, she said, she would work to ensure all parties get a "level playing field" and "appropriate and fair experience" in the court system.
Schneer graduated from Tuft’s University in 1980 and New York University Law School in 1984, and she began her legal career with Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York. She spent a year with the state Department of Law in 1987, then returned to Prisoners’ Legal Services as a staff attorney and later managing attorney. She left that post in 1998 and began a part-time practice while also working part-time for the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem.
Ulster County Democrats have described Schneer as having "extensive experience as a civil rights lawyer and an advocate for the poorest and most vulnerable members of society."
Schneer said she lives with her partner and 4-year-old son in High Falls.
URL: http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2009/06/18/news/doc4a39b3f0c457e888978505.prt
© 2009 DailyFreeman.com, a Journal Register <http://www.journalregister.com/> Property
Thursday, June 18, 2009
By KYLE WIND
Freeman staff
KINGSTON — Deborah Schneer, a town of Rochester justice and the Democratic candidate in this fall’s election for Ulster County judge, has been appointed to the county bench by Gov. David Paterson.
Schneer is to succeed J. Michael Bruhn, who retired in April, and would be the first woman to serve as the county’s judge.
Her appointment could be held up, however, because it requires confirmation by the state Senate, which has not conducted any business since an attempted Republican takeover of the chamber last week and which now finds itself gridlocked with 31 members on each side of the political aisle.
Ulster County Democratic Chairman Julian Schreibman said he’s hoping for a quick confirmation of Schneer, but he conceded it’s "difficult to know for sure" how soon she will be able to preside over County Court proceedings.
Schneer, in a telephone interview on Wednesday, said she was "thrilled and honored to have received the appointment by the governor to the important post of county judge."
Schneer was nominated by county Democrats on June 8 to run for the judgeship, which has a 10-year term and a current salary of $131,400 per year. She was chosen over New Paltz Town Justice Jonathan Katz and Shandaken Town Justice Michael Miranda.
The following day, Schreibman called the governor’s office to recommend Schneer be appointed to the judgeship for the remainder of 2009.
The winner of the November election — in which the Republican candidate is former Ulster County District Attorney Donald A. Williams — will begin serving on Jan. 1, 2010.
Williams was nominated by county Republicans on June 1 over town of Ulster Justice Marsha Weiss and attorney Michael Kavanagh Jr.
Schneer, 50, has been one of Rochester’s two town justices since 2006 and has had a law practice in Rosendale since 2003.
As county judge, she said, she would work to ensure all parties get a "level playing field" and "appropriate and fair experience" in the court system.
Schneer graduated from Tuft’s University in 1980 and New York University Law School in 1984, and she began her legal career with Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York. She spent a year with the state Department of Law in 1987, then returned to Prisoners’ Legal Services as a staff attorney and later managing attorney. She left that post in 1998 and began a part-time practice while also working part-time for the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem.
Ulster County Democrats have described Schneer as having "extensive experience as a civil rights lawyer and an advocate for the poorest and most vulnerable members of society."
Schneer said she lives with her partner and 4-year-old son in High Falls.
URL: http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2009/06/18/news/doc4a39b3f0c457e888978505.prt
© 2009 DailyFreeman.com, a Journal Register <http://www.journalregister.com/> Property
Friday, May 15, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
First Post
Hello and Welcome.
This blog is a public forum for news, announcements, policy and more. Today the beta version of the new site goes live. We expect to have a somewhat more exciting layout in the near future, as we establish a web committee (I would imagine through the coordinated campaign).
Even though this is the "first post", you may notice that there are older posts; newsletters from the old site have been archived in this format, as a convenience.
While we are encouraging discussion, we are not allowing anonymous comments, at least for now. We would hope that commenters would be proud to represent their opinions, and that this requirement will encourage a higher level of discourse. (There are plenty of other venues for folks who revel in the disinhibition that comes from dissociation.)
I hope you'll enjoy using the new site, and we're looking forward to collaborating together.
Add this page to your Feeds and stay tuned as we build this site.
Best regards
Ian Brody, Treasurer
This blog is a public forum for news, announcements, policy and more. Today the beta version of the new site goes live. We expect to have a somewhat more exciting layout in the near future, as we establish a web committee (I would imagine through the coordinated campaign).
Even though this is the "first post", you may notice that there are older posts; newsletters from the old site have been archived in this format, as a convenience.
While we are encouraging discussion, we are not allowing anonymous comments, at least for now. We would hope that commenters would be proud to represent their opinions, and that this requirement will encourage a higher level of discourse. (There are plenty of other venues for folks who revel in the disinhibition that comes from dissociation.)
I hope you'll enjoy using the new site, and we're looking forward to collaborating together.
Add this page to your Feeds and stay tuned as we build this site.
Best regards
Ian Brody, Treasurer
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