In Judiciary Chairmanship And Past Races, Search For Clues On Sampson
Democrats look to draw strength from new leader’s attentive style, change of approach
Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:07:00
On the night the Senate Democrats took the majority, Malcolm Smith handed out a number of nicknames. For John Sampson, he had a simple one: “my conscience.”
Now Smith’s Jiminy Cricket is the new conference leader, and a man colleagues expect to bring a tempered, attentive and accommodating leadership style that will diverge significantly from Smith’s.
“He has what it takes to unite folks,” said State Sen. Bill Perkins (D-Manhattan), who along with State Sen. Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn) was one of the first to push hard for Sampson as the new leader. “And unity is the key to success.”
Some Democrats grumbled privately about the identity politics at work in Sampson’s selection. One said that while there was “significant support” for Deputy Majority Leader Jeff Klein (D-Bronx), the conference’s black members remained united behind Sampson.
Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Vito Lopez also appears to have had a hand in Sampson’s elevation, into which some are reading significance, given that Sampson ran a primary against Brooklyn District Attorney Charles “Joe” Hynes in 2005 that was widely interpreted as payback from Brooklyn Party Boss Clarence Norman—whom Hynes eventually put in jail.
“Vito was John’s biggest cheerleader,” said New York City Council Member Lew Fidler (D-Brooklyn), who is close to Lopez.
Sampson’s most recent moment in the spotlight came six months ago, when he took over as chair of the Judiciary Committee. Right away, Sampson was dealing with the enormous task of overseeing the confirmation of Jonathan Lippman as the new chief judge.
Joining the chorus of outrage over the selection process’s failure to produce a list with any women or minority candidates, he vowed to reform the whole system.
“When you have a process that becomes too political and really disregards the people of the State of New York,” Sampson told The Capitol in March, “[then] people do not have the faith, the trust or the respect for the courts.”
His confirmation hearings on Lippman were somewhat rushed—announced on a Monday, completed by that Wednesday, and immediately turning over the nomination to the full Senate for a vote that afternoon. To the confusion of many legal observers at the time, Sampson spent the hearings focused almost entirely on changing the nomination process and spent little time reviewing the judge’s legal record or questioning him publicly about his judicial philosophy.
Reflecting shortly afterward, he said he was following the interests of his committee members in what was put on the agenda, potentially foreshadowing the approach he will take as the new conference leader.
Examining Lippman’s record during the hearings “would have been nice,” he said then, “but my judiciary committee is open. I conduct it in that matter.”
He went on to hold four hearings on the process—two in Albany, one in Buffalo and one in Brooklyn. After the last one, Sampson said he would issue a report in 60 days containing his suggestions for ways to reform the system. But those 60 days came and went without a report.
But his performance as chair has won him some accolades. State Sen. John DeFrancisco (R-Syracuse/Onondaga), whom Sampson succeeded as Judiciary chair, said he was impressed with his predecessor’s handling of the committee.
DeFrancisco recalled a Judiciary Committee hearing on the morning before the coup, where Sampson wielded the gavel with authority.
“I thought he handled the committee well,” DeFrancisco said. “There were a lot of people with pent-up emotions. He kept good order while I was there, and gave people their hearing.”
His colleagues from South Brooklyn are confident that he can bring some order back to Albany. But as to whether Sampson has the chops to heal a deeply wounded and dysfunctional state government, several supporters were still taking a wait-and-see approach.
“Republicans should know they can deal with John Sampson. He’s not a political lunatic,” Fidler said.
As for himself, Sampson had only one thing to say about his selection before being whisked to another in a series of never-ending negotiation meetings in post-coup Albany: “I was not surprised.”
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ABOVE: Photo by Andrew Schwartz
Now Smith’s Jiminy Cricket is the new conference leader, and a man colleagues expect to bring a tempered, attentive and accommodating leadership style that will diverge significantly from Smith’s.
“He has what it takes to unite folks,” said State Sen. Bill Perkins (D-Manhattan), who along with State Sen. Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn) was one of the first to push hard for Sampson as the new leader. “And unity is the key to success.”
Some Democrats grumbled privately about the identity politics at work in Sampson’s selection. One said that while there was “significant support” for Deputy Majority Leader Jeff Klein (D-Bronx), the conference’s black members remained united behind Sampson.
Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Vito Lopez also appears to have had a hand in Sampson’s elevation, into which some are reading significance, given that Sampson ran a primary against Brooklyn District Attorney Charles “Joe” Hynes in 2005 that was widely interpreted as payback from Brooklyn Party Boss Clarence Norman—whom Hynes eventually put in jail.
“Vito was John’s biggest cheerleader,” said New York City Council Member Lew Fidler (D-Brooklyn), who is close to Lopez.
Sampson’s most recent moment in the spotlight came six months ago, when he took over as chair of the Judiciary Committee. Right away, Sampson was dealing with the enormous task of overseeing the confirmation of Jonathan Lippman as the new chief judge.
Joining the chorus of outrage over the selection process’s failure to produce a list with any women or minority candidates, he vowed to reform the whole system.
“When you have a process that becomes too political and really disregards the people of the State of New York,” Sampson told The Capitol in March, “[then] people do not have the faith, the trust or the respect for the courts.”
His confirmation hearings on Lippman were somewhat rushed—announced on a Monday, completed by that Wednesday, and immediately turning over the nomination to the full Senate for a vote that afternoon. To the confusion of many legal observers at the time, Sampson spent the hearings focused almost entirely on changing the nomination process and spent little time reviewing the judge’s legal record or questioning him publicly about his judicial philosophy.
Reflecting shortly afterward, he said he was following the interests of his committee members in what was put on the agenda, potentially foreshadowing the approach he will take as the new conference leader.
Examining Lippman’s record during the hearings “would have been nice,” he said then, “but my judiciary committee is open. I conduct it in that matter.”
He went on to hold four hearings on the process—two in Albany, one in Buffalo and one in Brooklyn. After the last one, Sampson said he would issue a report in 60 days containing his suggestions for ways to reform the system. But those 60 days came and went without a report.
But his performance as chair has won him some accolades. State Sen. John DeFrancisco (R-Syracuse/Onondaga), whom Sampson succeeded as Judiciary chair, said he was impressed with his predecessor’s handling of the committee.
DeFrancisco recalled a Judiciary Committee hearing on the morning before the coup, where Sampson wielded the gavel with authority.
“I thought he handled the committee well,” DeFrancisco said. “There were a lot of people with pent-up emotions. He kept good order while I was there, and gave people their hearing.”
His colleagues from South Brooklyn are confident that he can bring some order back to Albany. But as to whether Sampson has the chops to heal a deeply wounded and dysfunctional state government, several supporters were still taking a wait-and-see approach.
“Republicans should know they can deal with John Sampson. He’s not a political lunatic,” Fidler said.
As for himself, Sampson had only one thing to say about his selection before being whisked to another in a series of never-ending negotiation meetings in post-coup Albany: “I was not surprised.”
--
ABOVE: Photo by Andrew Schwartz
