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Panel Calls for Removing N.Y. Judge (Bush 2000 election connected)

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Judi Lynn

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Fri Mar-31-06 01:51 PM
Original message

Panel Calls for Removing N.Y. Judge (Bush 2000 election connected)

Edited on Fri Mar-31-06 01:58 PM by Judi Lynn

Panel Calls for Removing N.Y. Judge
By MARC HUMBERT

ALBANY, N.Y. Mar 31, 2006 (AP)� A state commission has recommended removing a judge who sought donations to his defense fund from lawyers who were trying cases before him.

In the opinion released Friday, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct also scolded Justice Thomas Spargo for giving out $5 gift coupons for gas and coffee and buying drinks for potential voters in a local campaign in 1999.

Spargo will accept the removal rather than appeal to the state's highest court, said his lawyer, E. Stewart Jones Jr.
(snip)

The commission dismissed a complaint about Spargo's work in Florida for George W. Bush during the 2000 presidential election recount, which included participation in a nationally televised demonstration.
(snip/)

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1791177

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spargo was useful to _Bush as an elections observer in 2000:

Judge to rule in morning in historic election contest

JACKIE HALLIFAX, Associated Press Writer

~snip~
Thomas Spargo of Albany, N.Y., a GOP elections observer called by the Bush team, testified that ballots in Miami-Dade were ``subjected to a lot of mishandling.'' Gore's lawyers tried to get that stricken from the record, but the judge refused.

Gore lawyer Kendall Coffey questioned Spargo about his role in GOP demonstrations at the Miami-Dade canvassing board on Nov. 22, a display Democrats claim intimidated the counters and was a factor in their decision to stop. The board chairman has said it was not a factor.

Coffey displayed a photograph of Spargo among the demonstrators.

Spargo played down the episode. ``There was some, if you will, chanting,'' he said when Judge Sauls asked him what was going on that day.

He said the chanting was to protest that the canvassers were excluding Republicans and the media from their proceedings.

Spargo said there was nothing approaching a riot. ``There was no fighting, there was no roughhousing,'' he said.
(snip)

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:XIxragM5vYAJ:sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi%3Ffile%3D/news/archive/2000/12/03/politics2301EST0602.DTL%26type%3Delection++%22Thomas+Spargo%22+%2B+Florida&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ETHICS PROBE TARGETS JUDGE

By Andrew Tilghman, Staff Writer, 10-19-02

ALBANY - Thomas Spargo challenges a state inquiry into his political actions while serving as a jurist.

The state Commission on Judicial Conduct has charged state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Spargo with a series of ethical violations accusing him of aggressive political activity that threatens his appearance as a fair and impartial judge.
(snip/...)

http://www.redressinc.org/EthicsProbe.html

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DUHandle

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Fri Mar-31-06 01:54 PM
Response to Original message

1. Justice is cheap

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ShockediSay

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Fri Mar-31-06 04:17 PM
Response to Reply #1

9. justice is cheap

when a judge

is only just

a political creep

Judges need to be impartial
and impartially appointed
lest their decisions be
politically disjointed

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Kurovski

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Sat Apr-01-06 04:24 AM
Response to Reply #9

23. .

:thumbsup:

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AndyTiedye

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Fri Mar-31-06 02:12 PM
Response to Original message

2. Would That Have Been The Rethuglican Florida Recount Riot of 2000?

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Judi Lynn

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Fri Mar-31-06 03:07 PM
Response to Reply #2

3. He was one of those creeps.

Edited on Fri Mar-31-06 03:09 PM by Judi Lynn

I haven't been able to find a photo pointing him out, yet, but he was there.

From another article:

Monday, December 4, 2000

Testimony concludes in Gore's time-sensitive contest of Fla. election

By Mark Silva and Martin Merzer
Knight Ridder Newspapers
(KRT)

~snip~
Lawyers for both sides became testy when Kendall Coffey of Miami, one of Gore's attorneys, challenged Bush witness Thomas Spargo. A Republican who practices election law in New York state, Spargo served as a recount observer in Miami-Dade.

�Isn't it true that you took the Fifth Amendment in a hearing ...,� Coffey began asking.

Republican attorney Irv Terrell jumped up and objected. �This is what you call your basic bushwhack,� he said.

Sauls called a recess and a meeting with attorneys. Afterward, the subject did not arise again.

Records show that Spargo invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination about 14 years ago when questioned by New York's Commission on Government Integrity. The case involved a $750,000 contribution from a shopping mall developer to one or more candidates in a 1985 election for the town board of Poughkeepsie. Spargo was never criminally charged.
(snip)

http://www.texnews.com/abilene2000/elec/test1204.html

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UpInArms

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Fri Mar-31-06 03:14 PM
Response to Reply #2

4. that picture enlarged and those numbers identified

Some of those pictured have gone on to other things, including stints at the White House. For example, Matt Schlapp, No. 6, a former House aide and then a Bush campaign aide, has risen to be White House political director. Garry Malphrus, No. 2 in the photo, a former staff director of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on criminal justice, is now deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. And Rory Cooper, No. 3, who was at the National Republican Congressional Committee, later worked at the White House Homeland Security Council and was seen last week working for the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

Here's what some of the others went on to do:

No. 1. Tom Pyle, who had worked for Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), went private sector a few months later, getting a job as director of federal affairs for Koch Industries.

No. 7. Roger Morse, another House aide, moved on to the law and lobbying firm Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds. "I was also privileged to lead a team of Republicans to Florida to help in the recount fight," he told a legal trade magazine in a 2003 interview.

No. 8. Duane Gibson, an aide on the House Resources Committee, was a solo lobbyist and formerly with the Greenberg Traurig lobby operation. He is now with the Livingston Group as a consultant.

No. 9. Chuck Royal was and still is a legislative assistant to Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a former House member.

No. 10. Layna McConkey Peltier, who had been a Senate and House aide and was at Steelman Health Strategies during the effort, is now at Capital Health Group.

(We couldn't find No. 4, Kevin Smith, a former GOP House aide who later worked with Voter.com, or No. 5, Steven Brophy, a former GOP Senate aide and then at consulting firm KPMG.

from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31074-2005Jan23.html

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AndyA

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Sat Apr-01-06 09:03 AM
Response to Reply #4

26. That picture reminds me how unattractive Republicans are

They just have this weird look about them. Not very stylish, somewhat dated, somehow not "current."

Of course, the Kool Aid stains on their lips (or is that blood?) and the glazed, deer-in-the-headlights look on their faces doesn't help much. And not having a mind of their own also makes them very ugly.

I try to stay away from them, but I hear they all have bad B.O. as well... :rofl:

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UpInArms

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Fri Mar-31-06 03:20 PM
Response to Reply #2

6. most of that seemed to have been funded or funneled thru Abramoff

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Duane_R._Gibson

2000 Florida Recount

"Four of Abramoff’s colleagues—all of whom have left Greenberg in the wake of investigations surrounding Abramoff’s activities—were foot soldiers in the Florida recount. Two of them bragged of their recount work on their official online Greenberg biographies, which have since been removed," John Byrne reported in the May 5, 2005, Raw Story.

"Shawn Vasell noted that he was a 'team leader' in Broward and Duval counties in his bio; Duane Gibson was photographed in the acclaimed Brooks Brothers riot of Republican operatives outside the Miami-Dade County polling headquarters; Todd Boulanger boasted of being on the Broward and Duval recount team in his profile. Also on the ground was former DeLay deputy chief of staff Tony Rudy," Byrne wrote.

Newsweek reported in the December 4, 2000, issue "on how the 'spontaneous' demonstrations in Florida were led by senior Republican 'operatives.' They were summoned from all over by e-mail from the Bush campaign, provided with plane tickets and hotel rooms. These election 'observers' were handed placards to wave, T shirts to wear (SORE-LOSERMAN) and led in chants. ... One of the shock troops was Duane Gibson, who had his trip to Miami paid for by the Bush team and is an aide to Alaska GOP Congressman Don Young. He told Newsweek he was angered by what he saw outside the canvassing board's ballot-counting room. 'I thought, My gosh, they're taking those ballots to a closed area and they're not going to let us see them.' He insisted the angry demonstrations were 'spontaneous.'"

More on the Abramoff Connection

"Also, registered as a lobbyist for the Highway Commission was Abramoff deputy Duane Gibson, who aided Abramoff's Greenberg-funded efforts to stop the 2000 Florida recount and assisted in unreported fundraising events at Abramoff's DC restaurants held on behalf of GOP luminaries including DeLay, Blunt, and Cantor." <2>

Duane Gibson worked on the Agua Caliente Band of the Cahuilla Master Plan for their Tribal elections in 2002, in order to help get candidates Candace C. Patencio and Virginia Siva elected to the Tribal Board. Gibson was working for Jack Abramoff and with Michael Scanlon on this project. (p.53)

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AndyTiedye

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Fri Mar-31-06 03:57 PM
Response to Reply #6

8. Putting the THUG in ReTHUGlican

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sattahipdeep

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Sat Apr-01-06 09:56 AM
Response to Reply #6

27. Bat phone? ( Scanlon ) 2001

Reporters aren't going to stop pressing McClellan for that list of Abramoff meetings. The
questioning will continue as it has with the disclosures about who in the White House talked
about Joe Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame. And we're likely to get the answer even faster with
Abramoff than in the CIA leak case because, unlike reporters who fought to protect their
sources, Abramoff and his partner Mike Scanlon are spilling the beans to investigators. Some of
their older comments are talking for them, too. "Jack has a relationship with the president,"
Scanlon told a Florida newspaper in 2001. "He doesn't have a bat phone or anything, but if he
wanted an appointment, he would have one."

http://www.slate.com/id/2134512/

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Judi Lynn

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Fri Mar-31-06 03:19 PM
Response to Original message

5. He was charged with violating rules by participating in prohibited

political acts during that election recount:

Topic: State Judicial Elections
Article Title: Courts and Politics
Publication: The Journal News (Westchester County, NY)
February 28, 2003

Editorial hopes that "in ruling against anti-politicking rules for New York judges and judicial candidates, an upstate (New York) federal judge may have generated some new interest in the attractive idea of creating an appointive system." Judge David Hurd of a Utica-based U.S. District Court ruled that New York's Commission on Judicial Conduct rules governing the conduct of judges or candidates improperly abridged their free speech. State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Spargo of Albany had gone to the federal court to challenge the commission's charges that he had violated the rules by engaging in prohibited political activity. Spargo had handed out free doughnuts to voters, joined a pro-George W. Bush demonstration during Florida's disputed vote recount, and spoke at a Conservative Party dinner. The federal judge found that New York rules were unconstitutionally vague. "The latest ruling raised fears that it will turn judicial contests into political free-for-alls." Editorial says the solution to end undue political activity "would be to take the selection of judges out of the political arena" and move toward a nonpartisan appointment system.
(snip)

http://www.brennancenter.org/programs/pester/pages/view_elerts.php?elert_id=&s_date=&e_date=&category_id=4&end_date=&page=106&search_text=

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snowbear

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Fri Mar-31-06 03:29 PM
Response to Original message

7. Awesome! I hope they boot his wingnut ass to the curb!

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Uncle Joe

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Fri Mar-31-06 05:07 PM
Response to Original message

10. Kicked

:kick:

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djg21

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Fri Mar-31-06 06:03 PM
Response to Reply #10

11. From a well-placed source!

Edited on Fri Mar-31-06 06:11 PM by djg21

Judge Spargo was handling the calendar call at the Albany County Supreme Court this morning. He was on the bench, hearing oral argument, when his secretary interrupted to pass him a note. The judge asked her to wait until the argument was over before interrupting. The secretary responded that he had to look at the note immediately. Judge Spargo read the note, stepped out from behind the bench, unzipped his black robe, said "I've been removed from the bench," and walked out of the Courtroom embarrassed. The two attorneys at the counsel tables were dumbfounded, as were all in the Courtroom.

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Judi Lynn

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Fri Mar-31-06 06:08 PM
Response to Reply #11

12. That's one priceless moment. My God. Thank you. n/t

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remfan

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Fri Mar-31-06 06:35 PM
Response to Original message

13. Spargo was the judge - Scott Ritter

I knew the name sounded familiar...

HMMMMM... 01-25-03

In the last week it has come out in the media that Scott Ritter, former U.N. weapons inspector and vocal critic of W's drive for war against Iraq, was arrested in June 2001 on suspicion of attempting to set up a rendezvous with what he thought was a sixteen-year-old girl. Ultimately, the charges against Ritter were dropped and the records were sealed.

The timing is, of course, very suspicious. On the eve of a war against Iraq this has all the appearances of an attempt to silence or at least discredit one of the more effective critics of the administration. First of all, the records in this case were sealed and whoever leaked them to the press was quite simply breaking the law. They have also violated Ritter's civil rights as well.

-snip-

Of course, the most curious thing of all is who the judge in Ritter's case in 2001 was -- his judge was a fellow named Thomas J. Spargo. Spargo is not exactly a household name but, if you recall from a couple of years back, he's a well-known Republican lawyer and activist who played a role in the mob demonstration that shut down the vote-counting in Miami during the recount battle of 2000.

http://hnn.us/articles/1213.html#01250303

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Judi Lynn

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Fri Mar-31-06 09:45 PM
Response to Reply #13

14. How profoundly odd, yet completely in keeping with this cult.

Thanks so much for being able to retrieve that info. You've got a remarkable memory.

That was a truly nasty scheme they played on Ritter. Didn't keep him down, it's good to know.

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NYC

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Sat Apr-01-06 06:19 PM
Response to Reply #13

30. Thank you, remfan.

I wouldn't have noticed that.

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Ian David

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Fri Mar-31-06 10:09 PM
Response to Original message

15. It's okay when Republicans do it

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djg21

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Sat Apr-01-06 02:46 AM
Response to Original message

16. (NY) Sup Ct Judge Spargo (Miami-Dade Rioter) removed from bench

Edited on Fri Mar-31-06 05:56 PM by djg21

Supreme Court Justice Spargo won't appeal removal from benchThe Business Review

Prominent Albany, N.Y., lawyer Thomas Spargo should be removed as a justice of the Supreme Court in Albany County, according to a state panel that determined his political activities were unbecoming of a judge in New York state.

The Commission on Judicial Conduct cited several acts of misconduct by the justice in releasing its removal recommendation Friday. They included his solicitation of a $10,000 contribution from one lawyer for his legal expense fund as he challenged the legal right of the commission to pursue a disciplinary case against him. The commission said Spargo also arranged a lunch at a local restaurant at which his friend solicited contributions for Spargo from other lawyers who had pending cases before the justice.

Other instances of wrongdoing cited by the commission dated back to 1999, when Spargo handed out $5 coupons and free drinks while he was campaigning for a town justice seat. The commission also said his appearance at a Monroe County Conservative Party fundraiser in 2001 violated state rules about judges' involvement in political activities in New York state.

. . . .

The commission dismissed a misconduct charge concerning Spargo's political activities in Florida after the disputed presidential election of 2000. Spargo was among a group of pro-George W. Bush Republicans from New York who attended recounting sessions for the vote and engaged in noisy partisan demonstrations, contending that Bush votes were not being counted properly.

Spargo has a reputation as being one of New York state's most knowledgeable election law lawyers. He has done extensive work in the past for the state Republican Committee.

. . . .

Karma ;->

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Catch22Dem

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Sat Apr-01-06 02:47 AM
Response to Reply #16

17. Karma indeed

Screw this prick.

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brentspeak

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Sat Apr-01-06 02:47 AM
Response to Reply #16

18. Spargo should look on the bright side:

Now he can be a GOP rent-a-rioter full-time instead of part-time.

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AlCzervik

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Sat Apr-01-06 02:47 AM
Response to Reply #16

19. google has tons of stuff on this guy, what an asshat.

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fooj

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Sat Apr-01-06 02:47 AM
Response to Reply #16

20. Does their "slime pit" have no end??????

Peace.

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Canuckistanian

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Sat Apr-01-06 02:47 AM
Response to Reply #16

21. They sure know how to recruit, don't they?

The GOP must use some special "Slimeball Test" to weed out the candidates with integrity.

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SoCalDem

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Sat Apr-01-06 02:47 AM
Response to Reply #16

22. HE is the poster child for WHY judicial appointments should be

Edited on Fri Mar-31-06 07:58 PM by SoCalDem

NON_PARTISAN..

every year the ABA should be asked to submit names and bios of people THEY determine to be the best candidates for apppointments.. Every year that list should be fully vetted, and then the names picked at RANDOM whenever an opening occurs..

Like Bench-Bingo..

How to vet them? Names that appear on the top 10 list of repubes OR democrats could be discarded, and the ones that are chosen by neither party...they're IT.

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Tigress DEM

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Sat Apr-01-06 04:30 AM
Response to Reply #22

25. Kind of like the new Olympic Ice Skating rules?

Still even if the ABA could narrow the field to "competent" individuals, we'd be miles ahead of most * appointments.

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Tigress DEM

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Sat Apr-01-06 04:28 AM
Response to Original message

24. Can WE Please get a "Conflict of Interest" AMEN from the Choir?

Even if the commission don't see the truth, can the Choir say, "AMEN, that man was a lackey for the side of evil."?

"The commission dismissed a complaint about Spargo's work in Florida for George W. Bush during the 2000 presidential election recount, which included participation in a nationally televised demonstration."

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Uncle Joe

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Sat Apr-01-06 12:37 PM
Response to Reply #24

28. Amen!

Edited on Sat Apr-01-06 12:37 PM by Uncle Joe

Looking at their eyes in the picture of the brown shirts, one senses the lights are on, but nobody is home.

:kick:

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Judi Lynn

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Sat Apr-01-06 12:40 PM
Response to Reply #28

29. It's downright creepy. They're on automatic pilot. n/t

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