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FOCUS ON: NY Appellate Court Judge Thomas Dickerson

Thomas A. Dickerson is a former Yonkers city councilman and city court judge is now a judge on the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department.  He was designated to this Division in 2006 and his term on the Supreme Court ends on December 31, 2017. Controversy Appellate Court Judge Thomas A. Dickerson, 72, a former Green Beret paratrooper in Vietnam who made an off-color joke from the bench in October 2014. When a female attorney arguing in a motorcycle accident noted she had never ridden one, Dickerson said she would “look good in leather,” the legal-news site Above the Law reported. He later apologized. “It blew a whole career,” the court insider said. When judges turn 70, they can apply for certification to stay on the bench. They can apply for recertification at 72 and 74 but cannot serve past 76. http://abovethelaw.com/2014/10/law-school-dean-turns-judges-sexist-snafu-into-a-teachable-moment/ Education Judge Dickerson received his B.A. degree
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WELCOME TO THE POLICE STATE: ‘Retaliation for use of the Open Records Act will inhibit every citizen from using it.’

A North Georgia newspaper publisher was indicted on a felony charge and jailed overnight last week – for filing an open-records request. Fannin Focus publisher Mark Thomason, along with his attorney Russell Stookey, were arrested on Friday and charged with attempted identity fraud and identity fraud. Thomason was also accused of making a false statement in his records request. Thomason’s relentless pursuit of public records relating to the local Superior Court has incensed the court’s chief judge, Brenda Weaver, who also chairs the state Judicial Qualifications Commission. Weaver took the matter to the district attorney, who obtained the indictments. Thomason was charged June 24 with making a false statement in an open-records request in which he asked for copies of checks “cashed illegally.” Thomason and Stookey were also charged with identity fraud and attempted identity fraud because they did not get Weaver’s approval before sending subpoenas to banks where Weaver and another j
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How The Privileged Political Class Protects Its Intrests: The History of Scarsdale’s Non-Partisan Election System

In 1911, after a particularly bitter campaign and election for Town Supervisor, the leaders of the Scarsdale Town Republican Party and Democratic Party committees agreed to jointly choose a single candidate for any open town government position who would best serve the interests of the entire Village and whom both parties would endorse. This system worked fairly well until 1930, when the Party committees were unable to agree on a single candidate for an open Village Trustee position. As a result, the Party committees and the Scarsdale Town Club agreed to form a new committee, unaffiliated with either Party, “consisting of representative citizens … to select candidates,” and Scarsdale’s first nonpartisan election system was established. That fall, the Scarsdale Town Club and the Woman’s Club co-drafted the first version of the Non-Partisan Resolution (the “Resolution”), a document that outlines the consensus method to be followed in nominating Village officials. The original Resolut
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Peter Mantius: Crestwood LPG won robo-approval - FOIL proves that there are no records showing that the Board of Regents has appointed a “state geologist” or “acting state geologist” since 2010

Gov. Andrew Cuomo should waste no time resolving the latest controversy over a Texas company’s application for a permit to store liquid petroleum gas, or LPG, in unlined salt caverns next to Seneca Lake. At issue is whether a specifically designated “state geologist” has a legal responsibility to conduct a rigorous analysis of such potentially dangerous activity or whether a simple undocumented sign-off by — well, anybody — will do. In its six-year bid to win that underground storage permit, Crestwood Equity Partners has made a practice of hiding documents, fudging facts and co-opting state regulators and local officials. Last week the company was called to task by the Seneca Lake Pure Waters Association for dodging a fundamental rule of the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The first sentence of the DEC’s “underground gas storage permitting process” states that such permits may only be granted with “approval in writing from the State Geologist.” SLPWA notes th
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Schenectady, NY Daily Gazette Reporters, Editors Get Freedom Of Information Law Lesson

The reporting and editing staff of The Daily Gazette got a lesson in open government earlier this week from the state's top official on New York's Open Meetings Law and Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). Robert Freeman, executive director of the state Committee on Open Government, spent more than 90 minutes speaking to Gazette reporters and editors about the intricacies of the laws, the resources available to them, the challenges they face, and their role in ensuring that government remains open to the public. Among the issues Freeman discussed were how to address a government body when it attempts to go into a closed-door executive session that might violate the law, the availability of records under FOIL, accessibility of electronic records such as emails and text messages, meeting notices and agendas, and how to successfully obtain records without resorting to FOIL. He also provided them with some of the resources available to reporters and the general public when they hav
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VILLAGE USES FOIL ON TOWN: Goshen Receives FOIL Request from Kiryas Joel on LEGOLAND

An Albany law firm has submitted a request for all documentation relating to LEGOLAND as the amusement park seeks a zoning change for property it is looking to develop in the Town of Goshen. The law firm, Whiteman, Osterman & Hanna, LLP, said in its Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request it represented the Village of Kiryas Joel and asked for records like “originals and drafts of all laws, regulations, ordinances, procedures, correspondence, memoranda, emails, decisions, handwritten or other notes, meeting minutes and/or agendas” of the proposed LEGOLAND project. While Town Supervisor Doug Bloomfield said he does not know what to make of the request, it is not unprecedented. The Village has sought to involve itself in zoning changes at the former Camp La Guardia property, owned by the county but within the Village and Town of Chester and the Village of Blooming Grove, and has sued the Town of Woodbury over its comprehensive zoning plan, arguing it did not have enough af
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New York Legislator / Public Official Contactability Report – 2015

Federal Senators Contactability Legislator Name Legislative Office via E-mail? via Webform? via Fax? Kirsten Gillibrand NY federal senator NO YES YES Charles Schumer NY federal senator NO YES YES Federal Representatives Contactability Legislator Name Legislative Office via E-mail? via Webform? via Fax? Yvette Clarke NY federal representative - District 9 YES YES YES Chris Collins NY federal representative - District 27 YES YES YES Joseph Crowley NY federal representative - District 14 NO YES YES Eliot Engel NY federal representative - District 16 NO YES YES Chris Gibson NY federal representative - District 19 YES YES YES Richard Hanna NY federal representative - District 22 NO YES YES Brian Higgins NY federal representative - District 26 NO YES YES Steve Israel NY federal representative - District 3 YES YES YES Hakeem Jeffries NY federal representative - District 8 NO YES YES
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