By Ryan Schwach<\/p>\n
New York City and Queens County Bar Associations last week released their ratings for each of the four candidates running for the two open spots on the borough\u2019s Civil Court bench. <\/p>\n
Both bars \u2013 who review judicial candidates in conjunction with one another \u2013 gave positive marks to the same two candidates, and negative or inconclusive ratings to the other two. <\/p>\n
The New York City Bar Association rated candidates Edmond Wong and Edward Irizarry as \u201capproved,\u201d and John Ciafone and Julie Milner as \u201cnot approved.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Queens Bar Association gave \u201cqualified\u201d ratings to both Wong and Irizarry, a rating of \u201cnot approved\u201d for Ciafone and a \u201cnot rated\u201d designation for Milner, indicating she did not participate in the rating process. <\/p>\n
It is unknown if she participated in the city bar\u2019s process. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese screening and reviews are among the most important tasks the association undertakes each year,\u201d said Leslie Nizin, the chair of the QCBA\u2019s judiciary committee. \u201cIt helps ensure that the most qualified individuals are sitting on the bench and that the justice system operates smoothly and fairly for all litigants.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wong and Irizarry, both of whom currently work as court attorneys, were nominated by the Queens County Democratic Party.<\/p>\n
\u201cI find [the ratings] to be a true privilege and an honor,\u201d Wong told the Eagle. \u201cIt’s not something I take lightly. In order for me to judge others, people of my community, I have to make sure I’m qualified myself. In order for me to judge, I honestly believe that I need to be judged first.\u201d <\/p>\n
Wong, the son of immigrants from Hong Kong, currently works as a court attorney referee in Queens Surrogate\u2019s Court. <\/p>\n
He said the rating process was \u201crigorous.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cHaving gone through the process, having shared my experiences, and now being found qualified by the bar associations, I hope my peers, my neighbors in Queens County, will find me qualified for this position,\u201d he told the Eagle. <\/p>\n
Irizarry has over 30 years of experience in New York\u2019s legal system and currently serves as a court attorney to Judge Maria Gonzalez, who was elected to Queens\u2019 Civil Court in 2022. <\/p>\n
He did not respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n
QCBA\u2019s positive rating is given to candidates who have \u201csatisfactory skill, experience, conduct and demeanor for the position being sought.\u201d Candidates who receive the rating must be given a combination of qualified and well qualified votes by a majority of committee members. <\/p>\n
Candidates who receive the NYCBA\u2019s approval are found to have \u201caffirmatively demonstrated qualifications necessary for the performance of the duties of the position for which they are being considered,\u201d according to the bar. Non-approved candidates either did not meet that threshold or did not participate in the bar association\u2019s vetting process. <\/p>\n
Milner and Ciafone are perennial judicial candidates running as insurgents in the race for Civil Court. Milner has run for the court each of the past two years while Ciafone has mounted three unsuccessful bids for the court, as well as a failed run for a spot on the City Council. Both are attorneys. <\/p>\n
Ciafone, a lawyer with an office in Astoria, took issue with the rating process. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have a tremendous problem with it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A longtime litigator, Ciafone argues that some of the people who oversee the ratings process are often his opposition in the courtroom. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have a problem with these people judging me,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Milner is a civil rights attorney from Western Queens. <\/p>\n
In 2024, the Eagle reported that an X account under Milner\u2019s name had featured a number of posts supporting issues championed by the far-right, including bans on LGBTQ+ books \u2013 which she called \u201cfilthy, pornographic smut\u201d \u2013 in school libraries. <\/p>\n
On at least two occasions, Milner appeared to call for the execution of President Joe Biden on her X account. <\/p>\n
\u201cImpeach, remove, indict, execute,\u201d Milner tweeted twice in January 2023 in response to posts about Biden\u2019s alleged improper handling of classified documents. <\/p>\n
A \u201cnot approved\u201d rating from the NYCBA means that the candidate \u201cfailed to affirmatively demonstrate that s\/he possesses the requisite qualifications for the court for which s\/he is a candidate.\u201d <\/p>\n
The two bar associations conduct their review of candidates alongside each other. <\/p>\n
All candidates on the ballot are invited to first complete a questionnaire before sitting for an interview at a joint meeting of the two bar associations. Prior to the interview, the bar associations conduct an investigation into the candidate’s background, speaking with judges and lawyers the candidate has worked with and reviewing their courtroom behavior when applicable. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe work of this committee is very valuable and all our members appreciate their efforts\u201d, said QCBA President Joshua Katz. \u201cWe also thank the City Bar volunteers and staff for all of their hard work on this task. The collaboration between the two organizations has proven invaluable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Ryan Schwach New York City and Queens County Bar Associations last week released their ratings for each…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-268763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}