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Against the Grain
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Date: 05/01/2001 Times Union
See full story at: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyKey=57152&category=Y One of the people responsible for the censure of state Supreme Court Justice Joseph Teresi says New York's system for disciplining judges doesn't go far enough, and he's looking to do something about it. Knox businessman Ronald Loeber is one of the organizers of an upcoming meeting to create NYJail4Judges, a state chapter of a national group devoted to holding judges more accountable. Accountable, as the name implies, in the sense of sending them to jail like other citizens when they do wrong. With an initial meeting set for May 19 at the Rotterdam Motor Inn in Schenectady, NYJail4Judges' has one major goal: getting the state Legislature to pass a "Judicial Accountability Initiative Law'' creating a Grand Jury with the power to fine errant judges and remove three-time offenders from the bench. It would also be able to indict judges on criminal charges. Loeber was among several people who complained to the Commission on Judicial Conduct about Teresi, censured in February for displaying a lack of judicial temperament for being "injudicious, impatient and discourteous'' in trying to force a case settlement. He also held two people in civil contempt of court in 1997 and sent them to jail without holding hearings. One was Loeber, who spent 45 days in jail for refusing to sign a deed terminating his water and easement rights on land owned by a developer. Teresi then gave the county sheriff power to sign the deed. Loeber, 59, said the case has all but ruined him financially and that censure was a "slap on the wrist.'' He sued in federal court, but said Teresi was removed as a defendant because of judicial immunity. "I just decided, I've got to do something about this,'' he said. Insisting it isn't a one-man, sour grapes crusade, Loeber, who has teamed up with Washington County constitutional activist Bill Gage, said that after news of the censure broke, people from around the region and in Massachusetts called him with their own stories about judges. Since posting a notice about the meeting on the Internet (the main site is http://www.jail4judges.org) recently, he's heard from more in New York and other states, including, he said, one judge who said he couldn't attend but sent $20 to reserve a spot for someone else. The group hopes to influence town boards and county legislatures to pass local resolutions supporting the law, and to take the support to the state Legislature within several years. Compiled by Jay Jochnowitz, James
M. Odato, and Elizabeth Benjamin. Got a good tip? Call us at 454-5082.
Or e-mail: jjochnowitz@timesunion.com; jodato@timesunion.com; ebenjamin@timesunion.com.
JAIL is making inroads into Congress
for federal accountability!
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