Letter to the Editor: Don't Elect Judge Who Made Ethnic Slur

To the Editor:

If you choose to vote for a judge who made an ethnic slur in court, you are part of the problem we are experiencing in our country right now. As a voter, it is not that hard to do the right thing for the majority of the people who live in your town. You can start by not electing a town judge who has been censured for making an inappropriate, unprofessional remark about a demographic minority, as well as for invoking his judicial privilege twice.

It is important to educate yourself on the censure of Judge Mike Tawil before voting in the primary on June 23 rd . Contrary to what his campaign would have you believe, censure is not a common or small thing. Only four out of 1,840 New York judges were censured in 2019. In fact, so egregious were Mike Tawil’s transgressions that the story of his censure was carried nationally, appearing in more than 13 local and national newspapers.

And there’s more. For the majority of 2019, Tawil ran a campaign for County Judge, where he received only 1.8% of votes in the general election. Upon realizing the election was lost and with the ruling of his censure becoming public, Tawil then applied to fill an empty position on Ossining’s bench. Both Tawil and his wife made campaign donations to Ossining Town Board members before asking to be reappointed to the bench by the Ossining Town Board. Judicial candidates and their wives may not solicit funds for or make political contributions to candidates running for a public office. On December 23, 2019, less than two hours before his censure became public, the Town Board of Ossining unanimously appointed Tawil to the bench.

Now he is running to be re-elected, which would be a total embarrassment and setback for Ossining and its diverse community.

But there is good news. Ossining has another candidate for judge, and he is endorsed by the Democratic Committee. Meet Jeff Gasbarro. You might know him from his work on the Ossining Downtown Development Committee or served with him on the board of the Interfaith Council for Action, or you may have appeared before him as a member of the Village Planning Board. For more than 10 years he has worked as an attorney in both the trial and appellate courts in the New York State Court System. He also serves as the Principal Law Clerk to the Hon. Fran Connolly at the Supreme Court of the State of New York. In addition to this, he’s one of the writers of the legal treatise on jury instruction for the State of New York. He also has a respectable list of leadership awards and recognition you can read about on his web site.

Respect for the law and respect for how one carries himself are essential character traits in a judge – especially in a diverse community like Ossining. Fortunately, in this election Democrats have a choice, and Jeff Gasbarro is clearly the best choice for Ossining.

Sincerely,
Laura Whitlinger

(See on Patch: State Censures Ossining Town Justice)