What else would satisfactorily explain young Harry Tutunjian's apparent desire to become an old-fashioned politician by making Troy City Hall a Home for Wayward Judges?
The mayor's most recent fuzzy-headed appointment came when he decided that, in a region filled with more lawyers then there are crows along the Hudson River at sunset, the best person to be a new city deputy corporation counsel was Tom Spargo.
The same Tom Spargo who was removed from the State Supreme Court less than six weeks ago when the State Commission on Judicial Conduct found him unfit for the position.
Getting a cushy part-time $25,000-plus job doesn't square with that sort of public record. And the audacity of the appointment is all the more shocking because it's not the first disgraced judge Tutunjian welcomed to the city payroll.
He earlier had hired Henry Bauer, also as a deputy corporation counsel, after Bauer had been tossed off the City Court bench. Bauer then went on to begin rehabilitating his image, running for City Council and, as the highest vote-getter, becoming council president.
Perhaps the mayor took that monumental act of voter irresponsibility as license to make any sort of cockamamie move he wants. If so, it's a huge disappointment to the many people who hoped the 30-something Tutunjian would add a breath of fresh air to Troy's storied and sordid political legacy. There is little reason to think such moves are anything but hack politics bobbing back to the surface.
Tutunjian's own comments smack of little more than barely disguised contempt for being queried on the matter. How does he defend putting on the public payroll two men found unworthy of staying on the bench? Of hiring two men for jobs that could have gone to any one of dozens of other qualified people who didn't have tarnished records?
Incredibly, Tutunjian says, "Their actions as judges shouldn't translate into how they represent the city."
Pardon me while I take a deep breath.
Mr. Mayor, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct fired Spargo for very specific reasons, to wit:
"By engaging in a series of acts that conveyed an appearance of `exploiting his judicial office for personal benefit,' the respondent diminished public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary as a whole and has irretrievably damaged his usefulness on the bench."
In addition to a bunch of small stuff that soiled the hem of his judicial robes, Spargo really muddied the rest of the fabric when he pressured lawyers bringing cases before him to contribute $10,000 in 2003 to his defense fund.
Doesn't matter, says Tutunjian.
"Tom Spargo is a talented, brilliant lawyer, and I am proud to have him be a part of my administration to represent the city in legal matters," he said with a perfectly straight face.
And Bauer? He was removed after the State Court of Appeals voted 4-3 to do so when it found him guilty of repeatedly setting excessive bails, failing to inform defendants of their right to counsel and coercing suspects into pleading guilty.
How about that one, Mr. Mayor?
"To me, it doesn't mean anything," Tutunjian said. "We are searching for talented attorneys to help us run the city of Troy. To have someone of Mr. Spargo's caliber on our team is a bonus."
In his public service announcements aimed at getting people behind his drive to clean up the city and effectively enforce building codes, Tutunjian likes to play the pride card. But, when it comes to disgraced judges and the city payroll, he isn't playing with a full deck.
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