Surrogate's Court Candidate Anderson's $225K Loan
A Manhattan Surrogate's Court candidate, Milton Tingling, is calling on the attorney general to investigate the $225,000 loan received by one of his opponents, Nora Anderson.
The loan was disclosed in Anderson’s campaign finance filing (for the period of January 12-July 11, 2008) and the money came from Seth Rubenstein, an attorney in Brooklyn.
Ravi Batra, Tingling's finance chair, said in a letter to Andrew Cuomo's office, dated today, that the loan could "serve to undermine public confidence" in the court. In a brief interview Batra told me he wants an investigation to "insure that there is no pay-to-play violation, and that all contributions are legal and not criminal.”
Batra's complaint is that such a large loan from a trust and estates lawyer could, theoretically, result in that contributor getting a disproportionate amount of work from the court, and, in general, favored treatment from the judge.
Anderson’s campaign manager, Michael Oliva, defended the loan, and said, "How about an investigation into Ravi Batra?"
Batra is a colorful character in New York’s legal scene who got wrapped up in Surrogate's Court politics in Brooklyn and at one point sued the television show Law & Order for what he said was an unflattering portrayal.
Maybe it was a little predictable that a campaign full of lawyers would devolve into threats of lawsuit.
Anyway, here are the finance numbers for the three candidates:
Anderson raised $316,790.36 and spent $202,062.38.
Tingling raised $66,699.00 and spent $39,498.68.
John Reddy raised $421,281.06 and spent $48,681.01.
- Poll
- Obama (D)
- McCain(R)
- Spread
- RCP Average
- 47.7
- 43.8
- Obama +3.9
- Candidate
- Favorable
- Unfavorable
- Spread
- Obama
- 54.3
- 34.4
- +19.9
- McCain
- 51.7
- 36.3
- +15.4
Any judicial candidate, particularly a sitting judge, who would associate with Ravi Batra is himself unfit for the bench.
In my opinion neither Nora Anderson nor Milton Tingling are fit for the Bench. A candidate for Surrogate Court Judge accepting a loan from a lawyer whose primary practice is in that court? Are you kidding me? Can you imagine the case work he will get if she's elected? And Milton Tingling's association with Ravi Batra should in itself, concern voters. John Reddy is an honest, knowledgeable and experienced attorney who stands out as the most qualified candidate.
Nora rules!!
=)
What's wrong with you "It'sOver"?......are you in high school? Isn't Nora going to be ruled by Seth Rubenstein?
So one of Tingling's main supporters is in on the Brooklyn mess and nearly all of Nora Anderson's money comes from a Brooklyn Surrogates Court lawyer. Does anyone know if Reddy has any ties to Brooklyn?
After everything that has happened over there, shouldn't we try to avoid having the words Brooklyn and Surrogate's Court together in our candidates/party????
On another subject, what did Anderson spent $200,000 on already??? Let me guess, she gets the endorsements and the clubs get the...
John Reddy is the most qualified candidate for Manhattan Surrogate. www.reddyforsurrogate.com
John Reddy is the most qualified candidate for Manhattan Surrogate. www.reddyforsurrogate.com