New York, NY – Mayor Michael Bloomberg lambasted a state Supreme Court judge for blocking the city’s sheriff’s office from moving forward with a cost-saving series of layoffs and demotions, accusing the judge of overstepping her authority.
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Mr. Bloomberg called on Jonathan Lippman, chief judge of the State of New York, to “step in and fix this system” to prevent what he described as a breach of justice
The mayor’s diatribe against Justice Emily Jane Goodman – part of a freewheeling discussion on his weekly radio show – represents one of the harshest broadsides Mr. Bloomberg has lobbed at a sitting member of the judiciary since he became the city’s chief executive nine years ago.
While this case involves a limited number of layoffs and demotions, the mayor has warned the city may need to layoff more than 5,000 employees in the coming months to combat a $2.4 billion deficit in the next fiscal year. City officials fear this case could set a dangerous precedent as the administration scrambles to balance the books.
Judge Goodman did not return a request for comment.
On Thursday, Judge Goodman issued a temporary restraining order preventing the city from laying off nine deputy sheriffs and demoting three supervising deputy sheriffs. For every day the order remains in effect, the cost to the city is $4,045.
The judge did not grant a request from the city that would have required the petitioners, the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association, to post a bond enabling the city to recoup its financial loss if it wins the case. The judge set the next hearing for Feb. 10, which city officials argue violates rules requiring the matter be heard at the “earliest possible date.”
On Friday, Mr. Bloomberg denounced the decision, saying “there’s no reason in law for the judge to do this.” The mayor said the taxpayers will be on the hook for thousands of dollars a day, “Just because this judge decides to step in and says ‘Oh, I feel sorry for those people.’ What about for the taxpayers?”
“We’re going to have to lay off people now in other areas where we would not” before, the mayor said.
The mayor continued to lash out at the judge, saying she has a “long history” of these types of unjust moves on the bench.
According to court papers filed by the city, Judge Goodman issued a temporary restraining order in December 2009 preventing the city form moving forward on a rezoning initiative in Brooklyn. That case remains unresolved. In another matter, it took the judge more than a year to reach a decision in a rent guidelines case, the city said in court papers.
On his radio show, the mayor called on the chief judge to intervene.
“We need Judge Lippman to make these judges follow the law,” he said. “Not get involved where they have no legal standing and if they do have legal standing, do what the law says.”
David Bookstaver, a spokesman for the Office of Court Administration, said, “Judge Lippmann can clearly not intervene in a pending case.”
Read more in the Wall Street Journal.
This once I agree with Bloomberg. You have these liberal judges that’ll always go against simple logic just because they feel this urge to oppose the establishment, just l’hachiss.
The sherriffs drive through manhattan in luxury cars, with the plates flipped down so no-one can identify them and tow cars of people who have 2 or 3 tickets to pay. We need these guys like a “loch in kopf”…. and judge Emily Jane cannot give them a temporary layoff? How about just giving them an overtime layoff so they don’t seize cars in the middle of the night! They like grabbing cars then because it stops the owners from paying on the spot and forces them to pay an extra $175 for towing and $ 40 for the first day storage.
The State of Connecticut got rid of Sheriffs completely about a decade ago.
That said, if you were about to lose your job, you’d fight it, too!
” ‘Oh, I feel sorry for those people.’ What about for the taxpayers?”
Classic Bloomberg Faulty Logic
I feel more bad for someone who will lose his entire livelihood with no way to support his family, than for every taxpayer in NYC who will have to shell out a whopping extra $0.50cents
nice try bloomberg
I guess when things don’t go his way King Bloomberg gets a bit cranky. Too bad that this or another judge didn’t stop him from changing the election laws to suit his need to run for a third term. Agree or disagree, it’s nice to hear of someone in power standing up to the Mayor.
Sheriffs do not tow cars. They would like to, however, to bring the revenue to the city and take it away from the marshalls who profit instead of the City.