Conservative Party Boss Tom Cook Calls Out Monroe County Bar Association President Tom Smith
Can you say big liar? Those are the words I would use to describe Monroe County Bar Association Tom Smith.
Of course I’m talking about that article in Monday’s Democrat and Chronicle about Monroe County Bar Association President Tom Smith lying about judges abilities to serve on Public Defender selection committees.
According to the D&C’s Gary Craig:
In an opinion released last week, the state’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics stated that there is past precedent for the involvement of judges on a screening panel to choose a public defender. The opinion of judges may be vital because “there exists a constitutional obligation to provide competent counsel to represent indigent criminal defendants,” the committee noted in a 2001 opinion.
Similarly, the committee said in last week’s opinion, “a full-time judge’s service on such a (public defender screening) panel is ethically permissible and consistent with a judge’s important role in ensuring the adequacy of indigent criminal defense services.”
(snip)
In a five-page Dec. 26 letter to County Executive Maggie Brooks, the Legislature, and three judges asked to serve on a panel to screen public defender candidates, Bar Association President Thomas G. Smith said that the proposed judicial involvement in the Legislature-designated panel “raises serious concerns regarding the ethical propriety of engaging judges in a political function.”
(snip)
Surrogates Court Judge Edmund Calvaruso, one of the three judges originally asked to be on the screening panel, said he always thought Smith was wrong in his analysis.
“I think they were trying to intimidate us not to serve on that committee,” Calvaruso said. “There was no question in my mind we could serve.”
And hats off to Monroe Conservative Party Chairman Tom Cook. He is a refreshing voice of courage in politics. Unlike many of the mamby pamby politicians we have today, Cook isn’t afraid to call out hypocrites like Tom Smith.
Again according to Gary Craig:
Monroe County Conservative Party Chairman Thomas Cook last week wrote Smith, saying he should resign as Bar Association president. “For a professional attorney, there is nothing worse than to wrongfully accuse well-respected judges of being unethical,” Cook wrote.
Tom Cook is absolutely right. Tom Smith gives all lawyers a bad name — that’s quite an accomplishment!
He was David Gantt’s willing tool and he put our community through a lot. He lacked the courage to stand up to Gantt when he played the race card and gave credibility to his outrageous charges that Monroe County Republicans were racist because they refused to buckle to Gantt and his crew.
Shame on you Tom Smith and thank you Tom Cook.
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