Politics Daily

The Anti-Patronage Pledge From a Surrogate's Candidate

In a July 28 letter to New York County Democratic Leader Herman "Denny" Farrell, Surrogate's Court candidate Milton Tingling said, if elected, he won’t let people who hold positions in the Democratic party to get work through the court.

The letter, which was forwarded to me by the campaign, says:

“Public confidence in the integrity of the Surrogate Courts in Brooklyn and the Bronx have been undermined by allegations and reports of political favoritism in the assignment of fiduciary responsibility for cases that come before the Court.  Those concerns convince me that it is imperative to do all I can to ensure the residents of Manhattan that, if I am elected, politics will stop at the Courthouse door.

 "Therefore, if elected, I will institute a policy as surrogate that I will bar anyone who is a member of a Democratic club or anyone who holds or has held over the last two years any party position, including District Leader or member of the NYS Democratic Committee, from receiving any fiduciary assignments through the Office of Public Administrator or Counsel to the Public Administrator.  I have taken the liberty of sending a notice to the District Leaders to let them know of my position."

It's an attempt to position Tingling, who has enjoyed a lot of party support, as a reformer in a race for an office that has been dogged by the issue of patronage for some time. He is running against John Reddy and Nora Anderson.

 

  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Newsvine
  • Google
  • Yahoo
  • Technorati
  • Facebook
  • Stumble Upon
  • Netvibes
  • Windows Live

Comments
Post a comment

Anonymous (not verified) says:

Why is party support the antithesis to reform?

You can enjoy party support but still be transparent enough to point to DEFICIENCIES in the way the party rewards loyalists.

I think it's rather bold AND refreshing for ANY candidate who enjoys the support of the party to point out that the INTEGRITY of the party is paramount and more important than doling out patronage and play favoritism to select individuals within that party.

It might be dangerous for Tingling to take such a stand but it is by far the most visible and concrete policy to come out of any of the three candidates for surrogate.

Kudos to you, Milt. Hope your ideals and integrity translate into success.

Tiffany Necklaces (not verified) says:

UP

Anonymous (not verified) says:

mac flv converter ,
dat converter for mac ,

You're pretty dumb (not verified) says:

It's the most visible and concrete policy to come form any of the candidates?....What the hell is wrong with you?

Anonymous (not verified) says:

John Reddy is the most qualified candidate for Manhattan Surrogate. www.reddyforsurrogate.com

Anonymous (not verified) says:

John Reddy is the most qualified candidate for Manhattan Surrogate. www.reddyforsurrogate.com

Post a comment

The content of this field is kept private
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd><br> <p> <i> <b> <embed> <img> <blockquote> <span> <strikethrough> <u>
  • Use <!--pagebreak--> to create page breaks.

More information about formatting options

By checking this box you are giving permission for Observer staff to contact you to obtain contact information and permissions required for publication.