For an elections that only comes up once every ten years, the race for City Court judge has appropriately been receiving a pretty good amount of press. It's come to light this week that Montaginino came to his current job in Albany by way of a voluntary transfer, which he accepted (initiated?) after three litigants in Westchester County sued him for being biased against women in divorce proceedings. I'm going to blame my being out sick on Tuesday for letting Tatiana Zarnowski beat me to the story, but regardless, what's interesting to note is that the suit had greater effects than Montagnino's transfer.

In the wake of the suit, matrimonial courts in Westchester were shaken-up. According to the Journal News, a news paper that covers the lower Hudson Valley and reported on the flap, Montagnino feuded with Judge Francis Nicoli, after Montagnino made remarks at Pace Law School regarding the distribution of assets in a divorce. The shake up led to the removal of three justices from the Westchester matrimonial court.

Why should you care that some divorces in Westchester, angry that they didn't get the cut they wanted from their husband's fortune, sued Montagnino? Because, when I asked him, on Tuesday March 11, why he moved here from Westchester, his answer was that his family owned a home here, and had always loved it. He said he was transfered to Albany, which made the move easier. He never once said that he was transfered here as a way to quell a conflict in the judicial system in Westchester. This from a candidate who has said repeatedly that he wants to run only on his merits as a jurist. I don't pretend to speak for anyone but myself, but I think Mr. Montagnino should familiarize himself with two words before continuing his campaign on qualifications alone: full disclosure.

These developments should have come from from the candidate himself in the spirit of openness, and not, as they came to me, from one of the three aforementioned litigants.