In yet another episode of carefully orchestrated anti-democratic behavior, the Monroe County Democratic Committee (MCDC) is poised to nominate a candidate to fill a just-vacated position for Monroe County Court Judge.
Former County Court Judge Meredith Vacca recently resigned her position after having been confirmed by the Senate to the federal bench. Since she resigned before August 5, an election for a replacement County Court Judge will be held this November. Due to the late date, Democratic voters in Monroe County will not be given an opportunity to vote for the candidate who will appear on the November ballot on the Democratic line. Instead, members of MCDC will decide.
As we’ve extensively described on this site, MCDC is the political elite of the Democratic party – with about 1,900 members representing more than 200,000 enrolled Democrats, MCDC comprises a literal 1% of Democrats in the County.
Adding salt to the wound, this nomination vote will be conducted by members of the outgoing “lame duck” Committee whose term ends in a few weeks, while candidates who petitioned themselves on in March and/or prevailed in primary elections in June, will not be seated until the Fall organizing meeting (between September 17 and October 4).
How can we infer that this was this carefully orchestrated?
Vacca’s nomination by Sen. Chuck Schumer was facilitated by the retirement of Frank P Geraci.
To say that Judge Geraci is politically well-connected would be an understatement; before being nominated to the federal bench, he served as a Rochester City Court Judge from 1992-1998 and as a Monroe County Court Judge from 1999-2012. He is the father of Rochester City Court Judge candidate Michael Geraci, who won the June primary and reasonably can be expected to win the November election handily.
When Frank Geraci announced his retirement, Schumer nominated Rochester attorney Colleen Holland, but she never received a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Holland was eminently qualified, having earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester (2006) and graduated summa cum laude from Cornell Law in 2010, graduating first in her class. When nominated, she had clerked for Chief Judge Elizabeth Wolford for five years. Although she had sterling educational and work credentials, one criticism lodged in the wake of her nomination is that she did not have experience as a judge.
It is not clear why Holland’s candidacy stalled. She withdrew her name as a nominee in January, and Meredith Vacca subsequently was nominated on May 14, the hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee was held on June 5, and she was confirmed by the full Senate on July 31.
The total time elapsed from Vacca’s nomination to confirmation was eleven (11) weeks.
If Vacca’s resignation had come just a few days later, the Democratic Party would not have had the opportunity to nominate a candidate to backfill her position as Monroe County Court Judge – at least, not in time for her would-be replacement to appear on the November ballot.
So whomever planned the installation of a new Monroe County Court Judge, had two pressing timeframes bookending the nomination process: on the one hand, it had to be late enough to forestall the possibility of a Democratic primary; on the other, it had to be early enough to facilitate nomination of a candidate for the November election.
What Happens Next?
A potentially-lengthy meeting of the MCDC will be held on Saturday, August 10, with credentialing starting at 10:00am and the meeting gaveled to order at 11:00am. Perversely, MCDC leadership has stated that proxies will be allowed, with each member attending permitted to carry one proxy. MCDC Rules specifically prohibit proxies for designation votes, so it is not clear why leadership has seen fit to allow them for this objectively more-consequential vote.
Candidates include Pittsford Town Justice Michael Ansaldi; Destini Bowman, who clerks for Monroe County Court Judge Karen Bailey Turner; Brian Green, an attorney on staff with Monroe County; and public defender Marybeth McCarthy.
Although all the candidates are qualified to serve, Ansaldi’s candidacy raises questions. He is currently running for re-election to Pittsford Town Justice, and it is not clear that there is any legal mechanism to remove Ansaldi’s name from the November ballot – at least, none that would preserve his candidacy for County Court Judge*. Monroe County Republicans reportedly have vowed to sue to disqualify Ansaldi if he is nominated, perhaps stung by having their own County Court Judge candidate disqualified this year. Numerous inquiries on this question reportedly have been made to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct.
Even if there were a mechanism to replace Ansaldi on the ballot for Pittsford Town Justice, a domino effect could ensue, depending on who was chosen to replace him. Despite these questions about his eligibility, Ansaldi’s candidacy is supported by former Brighton Town Supervisor Sandra Frankel, Monroe County Legislator Sue Hughes-Smith, Brighton Town Councilmembers Christine Corrado and Nate Salzman, and former judge and State Senator Richard Dollinger. McCarthy, for her part, has released a collection of letters of support.
Mr. Green’s candidacy falls under the category of well-connected attorneys who obtained employment with the County after Adam Bello was sworn in as Monroe County Executive. John Bringewatt, who is running for Supreme Court Judge this year, also falls under this category.
Ms. Bowman and Ms. McCarthy round out the field, with differing backgrounds: Bowman is a former prosecutor now clerking for Monroe County Court Judge Karen Bailey Turner, and McCarthy is a public defender. While the three other candidates have significant experience as prosecutors, McCarthy has by far the most experience defending clients in the criminal legal system.
The below table has links to the four candidates’ intent letters and resumes:
| Candidate | Intent Letter | Resume |
| Michael Ansaldi | Intent Letter – Ansaldi | Resume – Ansaldi |
| Destini Bowman | Intent Letter – Bowman | Resume – Bowman |
| Brian Green | Intent Letter – Green | Resume – Green |
| Marybeth McCarthy | Intent Letter – McCarthy | Resume – McCarthy |
* Two events that would enable Ansaldi to be removed from the November ballot include his moving out of state and his untimely death. At the risk of stating the obvious, neither of these events would enable him to run for County Court Judge.