Applause

Back in July, I said that Judge Curran should recuse himself from the lawsuits and challenges arising out of the mayoral race, because he gave money to Byron Brown’s campaign.

I don’t mean to say that the Judge did something wrong, or that he would make his decision improperly based on some bias he has in favor of Brown – but the mere fact that that question would be asked and answered means that the Judge should have recused himself, and I applaud him for doing it. It was the right thing, and it really isn’t that big a deal – the case will just get re-assigned to another judge.

And not to impugn Curran’s integrity, either: it’s just that the rules are extremely strict for judges. Their rules don’t just say they have to avoid a conflict of interest – instead, their rules are much stricter:

22 NYCRR section 100.2: A judge shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all of the judge’s activities.

Just because Curran gave Brown or Grassroots $50 doesn’t mean he’d do the wrong thing – but there is the appearance of impropriety, and recusal was the easy choice.