Pols defend B’klyn judicial candidate vs. alleged racism
Lawmakers and elected leaders are mounting a defense for a Black judicial candidate they say has been the target of a racial smear campaign.
Dweynie Paul, a Civil Court judge, is the front-runner for a seat on the Kings County Surrogate’s Court, and has the backing of the powerful Kings County Democratic Committee. But she’s been dogged by lawsuit allegations that she cheated a home care worker hired to help her mother out of $264,000 in wages and overtime.
Paul, one of two candidates to replace retiring Surrogate’s Court Judge Margarita Lopez Torres, has denied the charges. Though the lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount in 2017, the allegations have resurfaced in an online article and on social media — right in the middle of her campaign.
Paul, 43, has said the employee never worked for her, but for her mother. Paul’s mother has since died.
“I am deeply saddened that an unfounded allegation filed against my deceased mother targeting me is being used to assassinate my character,” Paul said in a statement. “The lawsuit was filed at a time when my immigrant mother was approaching her sunset years. It was my duty to protect my elderly mother from outrageous alleged complaints and what could have been a lengthy lawsuit. A family decision was made to resolve the case in an effort to allow us to enjoy our time with her until she passed in 2019 with dementia.”
Paul’s supporters say the charges have been rehashed as part of an effort to maintain the status quo in a court already beset with racial and homophobic strife.
“It is offensive to try to muddy the reputation of a Black woman who was only able to rise through the ranks with hard work and the guidance and inspiration of her deceased mother, who is also being maligned,” said Assemblywoman Latrice
Walker (D-Brooklyn).
“Instead of vilifying Judge Paul, we should applaud her unwavering commitment to her elderly mother and should be looking for solutions to make it possible for Black and Brown women to have professional careers and also take care of their families,” said City Council Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo (D-Brooklyn).
A spokesman for Paul’s opponent, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Rosemarie Montalbano, said neither she or her campaign had anything to do with rehashing the lawsuit against Paul.
“Judge Montalbano is running an energetic, positive and independent campaign focused on taking her message of fairness and equal justice for all people to the voters of Brooklyn, said the spokesman, Michael Oliva. “In the end, the facts of Ms. Paul’s case will stand for themselves.”
Brooklyn is served by two Surrogate’s Court judges who handle the estates of residents who die without a will. The other judge, Harriet Thompson, who is Black, has been embroiled in a battle with the county’s public administrator, Richard Buckheit, who is white.
In 2019, Thompson wrote to the state’s chief administrative judge saying four workers in Buckheit’s office complained to her that he created a “hostile work environment” for Black employees. Buckheit has denied the allegations and accused Thompson of making “false, racist, homophobic allegations against me to others including my staff” in a 2020 complaint to the state’s Commission on Judicial Conduct.
Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic political strategist for Paul, said the post has historically been used to dole out lucrative estate cases to lawyers favored by the party, and that Paul wants to change all that.
Sheinkopf stopped short of saying that racism has played a role in the contest.
“There’s an awful lot at stake in the surrogate’s race,” Sheinkopf said. “It’s clear that this is a political attack.”
The judicial primary is June 22.