We just received the following newsflash from our friend, Alan Flacks.
THE FLACKS REPORT
State Supreme Court Justice James A. Yates announced today, 26 March, 2008, that he is leaving the Manhattan bench (Criminal term) to accept the post of Counsel to the new Governor, David Paterson. His resignation shall be effective on 28 April 2008.
This new post will put Judge Yates back in the political arena. He was counsel to the Democratic majority in the Assembly (1979 to 1989) and legislative counsel to the Speaker of the Assembly afterward (1989 to 1992), when he was appointed by Gov. Cuomo to the Court of Claims in 1992. He then was elected a State Supreme Court Justice in 1998. A 1974 graduate of Rutgers Law School, he was a former Legal Aid Society attorney among other jobs.
Judge Yates's new job will pay at least $28,000 more than the current salary for Supreme Court justices ($137,500) since his predecessor's salary was $175,800.
