Almost lost amidst all the attention paid to the contests for Mayor, Comptroller, Public Advocate, Borough President and City Council, voters will also have to choose some judges on Election Day.
For Civil Court – where you go for small claims, landlord-tenant disputes and lawsuits up to $25,000 – Judge, there are two candidates in Queens County. Jodi Orlow Mackoff of Belle Harbor and Richard G. Latin of Queens Village are both Democrats – and since voters are to choose two candidates, they are assured of election to a 10-year term.
For State Supreme Court – Queens constitutes the state’s 11th Judicial District and the voters must choose three of six candidates running for a 14-year term on the bench. It’s considered unseemly for a judicial nominee to actually campaign, so you’ve probably never even heard of these candidates.
Robert Beltrani has been a member of the New York State Bar since 1989; for the past 10 years, he has volunteered time to serve as an arbitrator for the Civil Court. Beltrani has also served as an Administrative Law Judge for both the New York State Division of Parole and the New York City Department of Finance. He is running on both the Republican and Conservative lines.
John Casey is also running on the Republican and Conservative lines. He began as a child welfare social worker. He graduated from NYU in 1985 and became a state Parole Officer while he went to St. John’s University Law School at night. After he was admitted to the bar, he was promoted to Administrative Law Judge, hearing parole revocation cases. Casey also does pro bono (free) legal work in Brooklyn.
Joseph Kasper is a trial attorney and general law practitioner who has lived in Ozone Park for 51 of his 53 years. A graduate of St. John’s Law School, he served as a legal assistant to the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and was a Special District Attorney in Manhattan. He is running as a Republican.
Daniel Lewis, running as a Democrat, is currently a Queens County Supreme Court Judge and graduated of the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1970. Lewis was an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan and Attorney-in-Charge for Harlem offices of both the District Attorney and state Attorney General. Since 1992, he has served as a Criminal Court Judge in Queens.
Diccia Pineda-Kirwan, also running as a Democrat, was assistant counsel to the Borough President’s office. Her first judicial job was as court attorney to Civil Court Judge Orin Kitzes. She was principal law clerk to Supreme Court Justice William Glover from 1999 to 2002. Pineda-Kirwan is a member of the Latino Lawyer Association and Women’s Bar Association of Queens.
Thomas D. Raffaele, on the Democrat ballot line, was one of three judges elected from a field of four to the Queens County Civil Court in 2006. Prior to that he had been a member and chair of Community Board 3 in Jackson Heights/North Corona/East Elmhurst.
