Thursday, December 17, 1998

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 December 17,1998 11 9:22 p.m. 12 13 14 REGULAR SESSION 15 16 17 18 SENATOR JOHN R. KUHL, JR., Acting President 19 STEVEN M. BOGGESS, Secretary 20 21 22 23 24 25 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 3 Senate will come to order. Ask the members to 4 find your places, staff to find their places. 5 Ask everybody to stand or to rise and join me 6 in saying the Pledge of Allegiance to the 7 Flag. 8 (The assemblage repeated the 9 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 10 In the absence of clergy, may 11 we bow our heads in a moment of silence. 12 (A moment of silence was 13 observed. ) 14 THE PRESIDENT: Reading of the 15 Journal. 16 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 17 Wednesday, December 16th. The Senate met 18 pursuant to adjournment. The Journal of 19 Monday, December 14th, was read and approved. 20 On motion, Senate adjourned. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Hearing 22 no objection, the Journal stands approved as 23 read. 24 Presentation of petitions. 25 Messages from the Assembly. 1 Messages from the Governor. 2 Reports of standing 3 committees. Secretary will read. 4 THE SECRETARY: Senator Lack, 5 from the Committee on Judiciary, reports the 6 following nomination: As Associate Judge of 7 the Court of Appeals, Albert M. Rosenblatt of 8 Pleasant Valley. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Chair 10 recognizes Senator Lack. 11 SENATOR LACK: Thank you, Mr. 12 President. 13 It is with great pleasure that 14 I rise to move the nomination of Albert M. 15 Rosenblatt of Poughkeepsie, New York, 16 nominated by the Governor to be a judge - 17 Associate Judge of the New York State Court of 18 Appeals, of course, our highest court. 19 Normally, I would immediately 20 yield for purposes of a second to the Senator 21 in whose district the nominated judge resides, 22 in this case Senator Steve Saland, but I will 23 take the privilege of my good intentions a 24 minute and say a few words myself if I may. 25 I'll try not to dwell or take any thunder from 1 my colleague, but say just a couple of 2 things. 3 First and foremost, he and I 4 are both graduates of the same university. 5 That, of course, makes him eminently qualified 6 to be Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals, 7 and our spouses are both psychologists. That 8 even more makes him eminently qualified to be 9 a judge of the Court of Appeals. 10 Thereafter, fortunately for 11 him, the differences between us are greatly 12 magnified. He is, among other things, a ski 13 instructor, particularly a ski instructor for 14 the handicapped. He is a widely known and 15 respected scholar of Sherlock Holmes. He has 16 and is probably as well known as any judge 17 currently sitting in the state of New York. I 18 will not recite the litany of his official 19 accomplishments, because Steve will. I'll 20 just simply say that, in the days since he has 21 been nominated by the Governor, the only - 22 the only comments my office has received 23 embedding this candidate for the Court of 24 Appeals has been one in which the word "E" - 25 "exemplary", "excellent" and the word "F" for 1 "fantastic" candidate; the Governor can do no 2 better has come across telephone lines to such 3 an extent that even the Chief Administrative 4 Judge of the state of New York today left what 5 he was doing in Westchester to immediately 6 come to Albany to be the lead-off witness on 7 behalf of Justice Rosenblatt as he appeared 8 before the Judiciary Committee with respect to 9 this nomination. 10 The Governor has made an 11 excellent, excellent appointment as Associate 12 Judge of the Court of Appeals, and I would now 13 respectfully yield to his longtime friend, and 14 for whom he is a constituent of, the Senator 15 from Poughkeepsie, Steve Saland. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 17 chair recognizes Senator Saland on the 18 nomination. 19 SENATOR SALAND: Thank you, Mr. 20 President. I believe I am Senator Saland, not 21 to confuse me with the gentleman who just went 22 to my rear here. 23 Mr. President, I rise to second 24 the nomination of Judge Rosenblatt. For those 25 of you who didn't have the opportunity to 1 attend the Judiciary hearing earlier today, 2 you missed a succession of speakers speaking 3 on behalf of Judge Rosenblatt, all of whom, in 4 one manner or another, spoke of his 5 extraordinary abilities, whether it be his 6 intellect, his character, his commitment to 7 the justice system. 8 Speaking as one who has known 9 Al for a number of years -- and I see a number 10 of people who have joined him, not the least 11 of whom is his wife Julie, but a number of 12 longtime associates either in the district 13 attorney's office, or those who have come to 14 know him in other capacities as well -- his is 15 a career of just one extraordinary 16 accomplishment after another. 17 I learned a couple of things 18 during the course of the comments. I don't 19 recall who it was that said that Judge 20 Rosenblatt arrived in Dutchess County to 21 practice law in 1968. I arrived at the same 22 time, and obviously he succeeded far more than 23 I ever could have dreamt of succeeding; so the 24 judge, whether it be as a district attorney, 25 whether it be as a County Court judge, whether 1 it be as a Supreme Court judge or as a member 2 of the Appellate Division or as the 3 Administrative Judge of our state's system, 4 has received nothing but kudos wherever he has 5 served; and the Governor, with his appointment 6 of Judge Rosenblatt, certainly has not merely 7 added another extremely well qualified judge 8 to the list of the multitude of judges that he 9 has had the good fortune to be able to 10 appoint, but I would say one who even excels 11 the high standards that -- exceeds the high 12 standards that his prior appointments have 13 set. 14 Judge Rosenblatt has 15 effectively trained for this opportunity for 16 probably much of his life, whether he did it 17 consciously or subconsciously. I can think of 18 nobody who will do a finer job. I can think 19 of nobody who better embodies the qualities 20 that one expects when they come before the bar 21 of justice than those that really are the 22 personification of Al Rosenblatt. 23 I can wish him nothing but the 24 best. The people of the state of New York 25 will be well served. The people who come 1 before our courts and seek justice could not 2 ask for a finer, more capable and more decent 3 judge to sit and rule on the magnitude and 4 multitude of cases which our Court of Appeals 5 will be asked to do. 6 I wish him well. I 7 congratulate him. I certainly join with his 8 many friends who have taken this day, a rather 9 lengthy one, and I understand they dined only 10 in the finest of Albany cuisine tonight. I 11 join them all in congratulating Judge 12 Rosenblatt and wishing him the best and Julie 13 the best as well. 14 Congratulations, and I'm sure 15 we will hear many more good things of and from 16 Judge Al Rosenblatt, Justice Rosenblatt. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 Chair recognizes Senator Leichter, on the 19 nomination. 20 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr. 21 President, I'm very happy to rise to second 22 the confirmation of Judge Albert Rosenblatt. 23 Judge Rosenblatt really comes to this 24 appointment with a great deal of experience 25 and credentials on the bench. 1 As Senator Saland and Senator 2 Lack have stated, he has served on the 3 Appellate Division, was the Chief 4 Administrative Judge. All of these are 5 obviously very important attributes and 6 qualities, but what is particularly important 7 is the reputation of fairness that he's 8 developed over these years, a reputation as a 9 legal craftsman, as somebody who looks at the 10 case on the merits, in fairness, without 11 bringing any ideological view to it, and I 12 certainly have been critical of the Governor 13 at times; so I think it's only fair to commend 14 him when, in my view, he makes such an 15 outstanding appointment and I think it's 16 particularly interesting that the Governor who 17 started out, and I thought was very unfairly 18 critical of the Court of Appeals, has now 19 made, I think, two very distinguished 20 appointments to that court, Judge Wesley and 21 now Judge Rosenblatt who, of course, will be 22 confirmed by us, and it really keeps the 23 tradition of this court as one of the finest 24 benches, if not the finest bench that we have 25 in the United States. 1 So that I think we can be very 2 proud of what we do today in confirming 3 somebody to what is such a terribly important 4 court for all the people of the state of New 5 York. It's a court that we want to maintain 6 the highest quality, and we certainly do that 7 by confirming Judge Rosenblatt. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 9 Chair recognizes Senator Leibell, on the 10 nomination. 11 SENATOR LEIBELL: Thank you, 12 Mr. President. 13 Judge Rosenblatt, as you 14 continue your career on to the New York Court 15 of Appeals, you will undoubtedly be working 16 many late evenings writing decisions, and 17 we're giving you a demonstration tonight that 18 you will not be alone. We will also be 19 working late at night for the common good. 20 I join my colleagues in 21 praising this nomination. I think once again, 22 Governor Pataki has sent us someone whom this 23 body can feel warmly about and take great 24 pride in recommending. 25 The judge before us has had a 1 tremendous career. I first became aware of 2 his credentials when I was a young assistant 3 district attorney in Westchester County. He 4 was well known there for his efforts and 5 especially in writing -- writing about the 6 Rockefeller drug laws. 7 Over the last few years, of 8 course, he's had a distinguished career as a 9 jurist. He has impressed us all with his 10 common sense and his great ability to relate 11 to all parties who have come before the 12 court. We can all take great pride, I 13 believe, this evening in seeing this judge 14 come before us to go to the New York Court of 15 Appeals. 16 Thank you, sir. 17 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 18 Chair recognizes Senator Stafford, on the 19 nomination. 20 SENATOR STAFFORD: Mr. 21 President. I always try to wait until most 22 everyone has spoken because people speak so 23 well and say so many good things, and I just 24 want to second them for this nomination. 25 A number of times, I've stood 1 here since the Governor took over and said 2 once again we have a very, very fine 3 nomination and, my friends, this evening again 4 we do, and we are so pleased to be able to say 5 that. 6 I have chaired a couple 7 committees when the judge was the 8 administrative judge for the state, and I 9 second what's been said about being a scholar, 10 about being so dedicated to the law, but I 11 also want to point out -- and it's so 12 important -- with the responsibilities that 13 the judge will assume, a person -- a person, 14 who, yes, can be firm, he's shown that he can 15 do that in his career, but always, no matter 16 what he's considering, no matter what the 17 issue is, no matter how big or how small - 18 and very often the issues that we were dealing 19 with were small, technicalities in the law - 20 but he showed a real understanding and a 21 concern and a sensitivity for a person and 22 people. 23 I will close by saying this, 24 and you can't say this about everyone, but I 25 think I've mentioned this on the floor before, 1 the type of person that Judge Rosenblatt is. 2 I had a ski coach that once said that the way 3 you ski is the way you live your life, and I'm 4 not sure that's necessarily true. But if that 5 is true, well, the judge is living his life 6 very well, as Senator Lack mentioned; but when 7 he has made his decisions professionally - 8 and I'm sure any decisions that he makes, no 9 matter what he has to determine or what he has 10 to tell someone or maybe even if he has to say 11 no -- he leaves that person so that if he 12 would run out of gas in our rural area, and he 13 knows the rural area of New York, if he was to 14 run out of gas in front of that person's house 15 out in the country, he could knock on the door 16 and not hesitate to ask for gas and he'd get 17 it. 18 This is a tremendous 19 appointment, and I'm sure the judge will make 20 a tremendous contribution to the Court of 21 Appeals. 22 Thank you. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 24 Dollinger, on the nomination. 25 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you, 1 Mr. President. 2 I was the member of the 3 Judiciary Committee that was waylaid by a 4 defective propeller in Rochester, so I didn't 5 get a chance to talk with Judge Rosenblatt 6 before. 7 I just have two real quick 8 comments, Judge. One is, as part of our 9 constitutional scheme, occasionally you will 10 find members who are elected to the legis 11 lative branch and the executive branch be 12 critical of our judicial branch, and what we 13 oftentimes do is we say good things about all 14 these candidates who come before us, and I 15 agree with Senator Leichter, this Governor has 16 distinguished himself certainly by his 17 appointments to the bench and most particular 18 ly by his two appointments to the Court of 19 Appeals: Dick Wesley, superb judge and a 20 tremendous guy, and, Judge Rosenblatt, you 21 fall under both of those categories. 22 But I would just say to you, 23 Judge, that, as you continue the tradition of 24 the greatest common law court in this country, 25 the New York Court of Appeals, don't be afraid 1 to tell this Legislature one of two things. 2 Either when we've drafted a statute we haven't 3 done it right, and perhaps have not dotted 4 every "i" and crossed every "t" to make it 5 specific enough so that we can give guidance 6 to the people in this state as to what is 7 lawful and unlawful; and also don't be afraid 8 to tell us that there are times when we, in 9 this Legislature, acting in what we believe in 10 the public interest may be taking away 11 precious rights that the people kept to 12 themselves in both our state Constitution and 13 our federal Constitution. 14 It seems to me that that 15 delicate balance that the judiciary must 16 strike is one that we in the Legislature ought 17 to strive to protect and, when people make 18 comment about our Court of Appeals or our 19 judges, when they're interpreting the 20 Constitution to protect the people, we should 21 be loathe to criticize and to, frankly, take 22 what oftentimes appears to be a cheap shot at 23 the judiciary because they're enforcing those 24 important constitutional rights. 25 Judge, everything I've seen in 1 your resume and everything Senator Lack has 2 told me, everything I've heard about you 3 suggests that striking that important balance 4 is something that you can do extremely well, 5 and I wish you the best on the Court of 6 Appeals. You are a proud continuation of that 7 fine tradition. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 9 Gold, on the nomination. 10 SENATOR GOLD: Thank you, Mr. 11 President. 12 Mr. President, we don't have to 13 review what's been said about the gentleman's 14 scholarship, and it's very obvious reading 15 this quite amazing resume that the judge is a 16 scholar and he belongs on the bench perhaps 17 for that reason alone; but again with the 18 resume, the thing that strikes me so 19 importantly is the fact that Judge Rosenblatt 20 is a really well-rounded individual who not 21 only has had a distinguished career on the 22 bench, but is involved with the community in 23 which he lives: The Poughkeepsie Jewish 24 Community Center, the opera house, the 25 Community Chest, ski instructor. I mean this 1 is somebody who not only understands textbook 2 law, but who lives, lives in the community, 3 and I think that's important when we deal with 4 the judiciary, particularly of the highest 5 court in the land. 6 He is also somebody who is 7 obviously loyal in remembrance, because I 8 notice in his resume he spoke at Harvard Law 9 School, moot court judge at Harvard Law 10 School, so even after he left the school he 11 was concerned about the future students to try 12 and lift their educational level to something 13 like perhaps a Cornell law education, so you 14 were able to do that. 15 I think, Judge, that in 16 probably the last words I'll say -- and 17 everybody is happy about that -- I do have to 18 echo it because it deserves to be echoed that 19 this particular Governor has certainly shown 20 his dedication to the quality of our 21 judiciary, and certainly leaving the 22 Legislature and having been on the Judiciary 23 Committee and voted for judges for over 20 24 years, I feel some sense of pride that we've 25 gone through a number of administrations, but 1 they have -- each governor in his turn has 2 seen to it that we have maintained the Court 3 of Appeals of this state as one of the 4 absolutely major courts in the country. 5 And in closing, I want to say, 6 Judge, you understand the word "dayenu". I 7 take a look at your career in public life and 8 we could say, Dayenu. It would have been 9 enough. But as Jerry Herman said, The best of 10 times is now, and the best is yet to come, and 11 I, from the outside, will be very proud to see 12 your career on our finest court, because I 13 know that you will do nothing but bring it 14 dignity from day to day. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 16 Balboni, on the nomination. 17 SENATOR BALBONI: Thank you, 18 Mr. President. 19 I, too, had the privilege of 20 sitting in with the Judiciary Committee today 21 and watched the myriad of speakers come before 22 the committee and talk about this man that was 23 before us. In today's world, when we have so 24 many people who question the integrity of 25 every branch of government and every 1 individual associated therewith, to have a 2 person who comes before us with impeccable 3 qualities, a resume that anyone in 4 professional life, particularly in law, would 5 die for, and then to have individuals who work 6 with him come before the committee and give 7 stories about the person, the character, one 8 woman in particular in Dutchess County, and I 9 believe she was former president of the 10 Women's Bar Association of Dutchess County. 11 She gave a sterling story about her days in 12 the D.A.'s office, and then Senator Leichter, 13 even though we were on a tough time schedule 14 he asked questions, substantive questions, and 15 you know, instead of finding myself sitting 16 back saying, Oh, please, you know let's get 17 moving, we need to get to conference, I was 18 literally hanging on the words of the judge 19 because for the first time you began to see a 20 little bit of the thought process of this man 21 who's about to go to the bench, the 22 formulation that he was talking about, brought 23 back the lectures of law school, but more 24 importantly brought back the logic of law. 25 In this day and age, we have so 1 few people that we could perhaps aspire to 2 want to be like, and want our children to 3 aspire to be like. In the many years when I 4 had the privilege of serving as counsel to the 5 Senate Judiciary Committee, I have sat on 6 many, many occasions where judges were 7 confirmed and, in fact, by my count, five 8 Court of Appeals justices. I must tell you, 9 not to offend any of my friends who are 10 currently on the bench, this individual has 11 probably the finest resume and background that 12 I've ever seen. It is a tribute not only to 13 this state and to this body, but to this 14 Governor, to reach out and to pick a man of 15 these credentials and to bring him before us, 16 let him continue his public works on the 17 highest court of our state. 18 Mr. President, it will be an 19 honor and privilege to support this 20 nomination. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 22 Larkin, on the nomination. 23 SENATOR LARKIN: Mr. President, 24 Judge, as one of the non-lawyers here to stand 25 up in your support, it just seems like 1 yesterday we were running for the last 2 campaign, and I remember going around and 3 people would say, you know, Look at him, you 4 know he stands up, he speaks straight, talks 5 to young people. Young people ask this judge 6 questions about law, and he addressed them in 7 a manner that he was a teacher. He was giving 8 them guidance. 9 I think somebody said to me 10 today when they were calling from home and 11 said, Please support him; he is a judge that 12 understands the people as well as 13 understanding the law, and I think that that 14 says a lot. 15 Since the nomination by the 16 Governor, I've had probably 25 or 30 phone 17 calls, not just from lawyers, from some of 18 your colleagues on the bench, but some people 19 who served on juries with you years ago. One 20 lady said she remembered when you were the 21 district attorney, and she said, "I felt sorry 22 for him and he won the case." It just says 23 something about a man that our Governor has 24 selected for this very important, important 25 position. 1 You know, we always talk about 2 people in the courts and some of us that are 3 not lawyers always can find fault, but I think 4 it really tells us something about, when you 5 look at the resume of Judge Rosenblatt, you 6 start to see a man who has extended himself on 7 every level. I've talked to people who have 8 talked to me about your skiing, and have said, 9 Yeah, you could learn a little bit more, 10 Judge, but they always said how intent he was 11 on helping somebody else, no matter what it 12 was, whether it was Bard Avon or what else. 13 You were a player in the community, as Senator 14 Gold said; your heart and soul was in the 15 community that you're in and you built up to 16 what you are today. 17 It's going to be great to see 18 you in the new robes. I hope that you'll get 19 a new set because you are now going on to 20 something that we're all in this chamber, I 21 know, very proud. You've done us well. We 22 look forward to greater things from you. 23 Congratulations. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senator 25 DeFrancisco, on the nomination. 1 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: I never 2 met Judge Rosenblatt until today in the 3 Judiciary Committee meeting, and the resume 4 speaks for itself. I think Senator Balboni 5 indicated that most people would kill for or 6 die for this resume. Well, Judge Rosenblatt 7 did it the old-fashioned way, he worked for 8 the resume. He worked hard for the resume, 9 through his whole life doing what was right 10 and making certain that each step went to 11 something bigger and better, and I want to 12 thank not only Governor Pataki for nominating 13 the judge, but also Judge Rosenblatt for being 14 here in this day and age when you cannot 15 listen to a TV program, you cannot listen to a 16 radio. You can not pick up a paper or 17 magazine, without seeing public officials' 18 integrity and character being questioned and 19 constantly being criticized, which paints all 20 of us in that light. To have a man of your 21 character, integrity and scholarly manner is 22 truly something that I, and I know all of us 23 in this chamber, respect and it's a very 24 refreshing thing for us. 25 You reflect all of us, and 1 we're very pleased to be here to support your 2 nomination and, on a side note, anyone who 3 knows the difference between pled and pleaded 4 and knows the correct way to speak has got my 5 vote any day of the week. 6 Thank you. 7 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Is 8 there any other Senator wishing to speak on 9 the nomination? 10 (There was no response. ) 11 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Hearing 12 none, the question is on the nomination of 13 Albert M. Rosenblatt to become an Associate 14 Justice of the Court of Appeals. All those in 15 favor of the nomination, signify by saying 16 aye. 17 (Response of "Aye.") 18 Opposed nay. 19 (There was no response. ) 20 The nominee is unanimously 21 confirmed. 22 Judge Rosenblatt, we welcome 23 you here this evening. We congratulate you on 24 the tremendous accomplishments in the past. 25 We certainly wish you well in the future. We 1 know you're going to do us proud, and anybody 2 who can bring a crowd like this out on a snowy 3 Thursday night at ten o'clock has got to have 4 something going for him. 5 So good luck and 6 congratulations. 7 (Applause) 8 Senator Skelos. 9 SENATOR SKELOS: If we could 10 stand at ease, please. Do we have reports to 11 do? 12 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: We 13 haven't heard reports from select committees. 14 Communications and reports from 15 state officers. 16 Motions and resolutions. 17 SENATOR SKELOS: Then we'll 18 stand at ease. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Senate 20 will stand at ease. 21 (The Senate stood at ease at 22 9:52 until 11:00 p.m.) 23 SENATOR PATERSON: There will 24 be a conference of the Minority in 15 minutes 25 sharp, 11:15 sharp, in Room 314. There will 1 be a conference of the Minority in Room 314, 2 Minority Conference. 3 (The Senate stood at ease from 4 11:00 p.m. until 12:27 a.m.) 5 ACTING PRESIDENT SPANO: 6 Senator Skelos. 7 SENATOR SKELOS: There will be 8 an immediate meeting of the Rules Committee in 9 the Majority Conference Room. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT SPANO: 11 Immediate meeting of the Rules Committee in 12 the Majority Conference Room. Meeting of the 13 Rules Committee. 14 (The Senate stood at ease from 15 12:27 until 12:41 a.m.) 16 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: The 17 Senate will come to order. Ask the members to 18 take their chairs, the staff to take their 19 places. 20 The Chair recognizes Senator 21 Bruno. 22 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President, 23 there being no further business to come before 24 the Senate on this particular date, I move 25 that we stand adjourned until December 18th, 1 at 12:42. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT KUHL: Without 3 objection, the Senate stands adjourned until 4 December 18th at 12:42. 5 (Whereupon at 12:41 a.m., the 6 Senate adjourned.) 7 8 9 10 11