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Four attorneys seeking to become Hudson City Judge

Hudson-Catskill Newspapers

Kevin Colwell

Kevin Colwell ran a tight race against incumbent City Judge Barry Sack six years ago, he told the Register-Star, with the results coming down to the paper ballots. Now he’s bearing the Republican and Conservative banners in a more crowded field, four candidates instead of two, in the race to succeed Sack.

Colwell, 37, said he thinks he’s the best candidate in part because of his familiarity with Hudson City Court. For nearly seven years, he’s been Hudson City Attorney, prosecuting vehicle and traffic cases and code violations.

Having grown up in and around Hudson, he said, he knows the people in the community.

But he also said it’s an advantage to live and work outside the city.

“My legal position is in Albany,” he said. “My clients are not drawn from the city. But since I grew up and worked here, I don’t take private cases that arise out of Hudson. I’ll have very few cases that would require me to recuse myself for conflicts of interest.”

He noted that all of his opponents have practices in Hudson.

Despite the fact that he practices in Albany, Colwell said, “I’ve always been available when someone in the city needs me.” For instance, he serves as counsel to the Hudson Police Department.

When he ran against Sack, the thrust of his campaign was that he would be available 24 hours a day for arraignments, and he holds to that now.

As city attorney, he’s seen the problems caused by having to go to a judge outside the area for the overnight arraignments.

City judge “is a thankless job,” he said. “That’s why I was surprised by the level of interest.”

Colwell said a meeting of stakeholders in City Court needs to happen: “We need to get together and determine how we can run City Court more efficiently,” he said.

He said the most important characteristics of a judge are fairness, a knowledge of the law and patience. “I think I have the legal acumen to perform well as judge,” he said.

Colwell, who until recently was Town of Kinderhook Republican Chairman, disagrees with one of his opponents on the question of party membership.

“Political involvement should not be a dirty word,” he said. “People should care about their communities and work to make them better. I’ll continue to be involved in my community after I’m judge.”

In 2004, Colwell was arrested for DWI.

“I pleaded guilty at the arraignment,” he said. “I took responsibility for my actions and was fined. I’m legally, ethically and morally qualified to serve as Hudson’s next judge. Nobody wants to be judged by their worst day.”

On the question of his youthfulness, compared to the other three candidates, Colwell said it’s an asset.

“I’ll be hard-working, energetic and eager to serve the people of Hudson,” he said.

The grandson of former Mayor Paul Colwell, Kevin Colwell graduated from Hudson High School in 1989, SUNY Geneseo in 1993 and the University of Dayton Law School in 1997.

He’s married to Mary Pasqualino Colwell and is a Eucharistic minister at St. John the Baptist Church in Valatie.

Brian Herman

“I wasn’t blessed to be a great artist or a musician,” Brian Herman told the Register-Star in an interview Tuesday. “I wanted to do something positive, and being a member of the judiciary is an extension of that drive.”

Herman, 50, one of four candidates for the position of Hudson city judge, is running on the Working Families and Justice for Hudson lines. A resident of Copake, he has served as Copake town justice for the past three years. Herman, who moved to Columbia County from the New York City area 15 years ago, sees the fact that he is not a resident of Hudson as a positive thing.

“I have the freedom of not prejudging people,” he said. “When someone appears in Copake Court, I’m divorced from their individual history. I can treat everyone with a clean slate. I’m not prejudiced by something they did 25 years ago. It gives me independence and objectivity.”

Later, however, he said that he spends most of his working hours, social life and money in Hudson.

“I feel I’m as much a Hudsonian as anyone, except the statue in Riverfront Park,” he said. Like Herman, that statue is an immigrant to the Friendly City, having begun its life in Paris.

The most important characteristic of a judge is the ability to balance, he said — balancing the adherence to law with humanity, balancing authority with humility, balancing the rights of all parties involved.

If elected, Herman said there’s one change he’d push for.

“Surrogate cases are heard at 8 a.m.,” he said. “That’s too early. It should be later to be convenient for the customers.”

Also, he said, he would be sure that when people appear in court, they are heard. He said he wouldn’t like to see the approval ratings of the judiciary fall as low as those of Congress and the president.

“It’s critical for people to feel they were heard and treated impartially and with respect,” he said.

Getting up in the middle of the night and driving from Copake to Hudson for arraignments would not be a problem for him, Herman said. As Copake judge, he said he’s the only candidate who does that currently, and once a person is up, the length of the drive is immaterial.

“I never refuse to go out — I always answer the phone if I’m there,” he said. “It’s a crucial part of the job to be sure a person in custody is brought before a judge.”

Herman said he checked with the Judicial Ethics Committee, and it’s OK for him to serve as judge in Copake and Hudson as long as there are no scheduling conflicts.

After losing four primaries Sept. 9, Herman said he’s stayed in the race because he still feels he’s the most qualified candidate.

“No one could have a higher commitment,” he said. In addition, he said, “I have a duty to my supporters after all they’ve done for me.”

Hudson, he says, faces a likely increase in criminal matters, evictions, domestic disputes and lawsuits for recovery of money.

“I believe I am the only candidate who possesses the knowledge, experience and temperament to make Hudson City Court a beacon of justice,” he said.

Herman said he is not beholden to any political party or politician and is not a “hand-picked nominee of the political establishment.”

A 1980 graduate of Queens College, Herman received his law degree from Brooklyn Law School in 1984. He has been practicing law for 25 years.

He and his wife, Barbra Herman, have an 11-year-old daughter at Taconic Hills.

Richard Koweek

Local lawyer and lifetime city resident Richard M. Koweek is the candidate endorsed by the city Democrats for the position of city judge. In an interview with the Register-Star, he called the job “the logical extension of what I’ve done in the past.”

Koweek, 54, has been practicing law in Hudson for 29 years. He’s a principal in the Warren Street firm of Koweek, Cranna and McEvoy. Most of his career has been devoted to defense work and civil law cases similar to those that come before the City Court, he said.

He also served as first assistant district attorney to Eugene Keeler in 1984-1985.

If elected, Koweek said he would try to work with various people to create a youth court in Hudson. A relatively new idea, this is now taking hold in Hillsdale and Copake and should be expanded, he said.

“If a person under 18 commits a crime, the case is adjourned to Youth Court, where a group of like-aged young men and women recommend the disposition, such as writing an essay, restitution, community service,” he said. “It gives young men and women a break the first time.”

Koweek said he believes there are four essential characteristics of a judge that he possesses: fairness, to everyone who comes before the bench; consistency; independence from either the prosecution or defense; and humanity — “it’s traumatic to be arrested, not fun,” he said; “You have to take into consideration the human experience.”

Hudson, he said, is the highest volume court in Columbia County.

“We think of it as a low-end criminal court,” he said. “But there’s a civil component — it’s important to hear each case on its merits.”

Koweek, the only Hudson resident in the race, said his long history in the city would benefit him “tremendously.”

“I think I have a more rounded sense of the community than the other candidates,” he said. “My family has been in Hudson since 1900. I lived here all my life, except during college. I was born and raised and worked here my entire adult life. I think I have a sense of what I can offer the community.”

Koweek has not practiced in Hudson City Court for some time, he said, because his partner, William Cranna, is assistant city judge.

In addition to the scheduled time in the courtroom, the judge is often required to come in after hours for arraignments, signing warrants and the like.

“Clocked by my odometer, I live approximately one half-mile from (the Hudson Police Department),” he said. “I think I could best and most efficiently handle that portion of the job.” The other candidates live in Kinderhook, Chatham and Copake.

Koweek has also served as counsel for the Hudson Housing Authority and the RSVP Program, and as president and vice-president of the Columbia County Bar Association. He was a member of the Hudson City School Board from 1991-1996, the Columbia Memorial Hospital Board from 1992 to 1996, J.W. Hoysradt Fire Company 8 and has been a volunteer soccer and basketball coach for the Hudson Youth Department.

He is a member of Congregation Anshe Emeth.

He and his wife Toni have three children, ages 21, 19 and 16.

John Leaman

John G. Leaman, a former city and county judge, chose not to seek any party endorsements in his bid for the position of Hudson city judge. But this has not kept him from engaging in one of the oldest strategies of the political process — knocking on doors.

“I will have covered every single place in Hudson by Election Day,” he said.

At one time Leaman was an enrolled Democrat, but he said he came to the realization that the political parties on the national level have lost their bearings. He has always run as an independent in addition to running as a party; now he just runs as an independent.

“It’s not easy to run as an independent,” he said. “It’s a lot of hard work. But it’s worth it, to say that ‘justice is impartial.’”

The most important quality for a judge is a spine, Leaman said.

“You need enough backbone to do what is right, and not give into whatever constituency makes the most noise. It takes a mind disposed to truth, and a temperament committed to applying whatever standard governs [the issue at hand].

Another important quality is humility — “better people have constructed the system in which we function,” he said.

The Hudson city judge is often called to preside over court matters in the middle of the night. “When I was city judge, I’d get calls on a regular basis, 24/7. I was the first city judge who always went to arraignments, no matter when they were called,” Leaman said.

During his tenure in Hudson, Leaman said, he initiated evening court sessions for the conduct of civil cases “to make Hudson City Court more accessible to working men and women. These evening sessions were discontinued by my successors in office. I intend, in consultation with the Office of Court Administration, to reinstate them,” he stated in a letter to the voters.

The fact that he does not live in Hudson is “not important at all,” Leaman said.

The important things, he said, are the traits, capacities and virtues so important in the process of judging: qualities of mind, judgment, character, humanity and heart.

Leaman left his county judgeship one year before the conclusion of his term, “due to a family circumstance requiring my attention, which impacted on the constructiveness I could bring to bear on the court, particularly the Family Court. To resign was my expression of my high regard for my public responsibility. I turned my eye toward my family.”

At that time, he said, he felt a chapter in his professional life was complete.

“I ask the voters of Hudson to help me write a new chapter by electing me Hudson city judge,” he stated in the letter.

“I’m hoping that every voter, whether Democratic, Republican [or other] will say, ‘Hey!’ This election for city judge is important: The City Court matters,” Leaman told the Register-Star. “It matters that the most qualified person is elected.”

Leaman served as city judge for four years and Columbia County and Family Court judge for 19 years. He currently serves on the state Committee on Character and Fitness, which assesses the qualifications of lawyers seeking admission to the Bar.

He and his wife Kathleen live in Chatham and have two sons, ages 21 and 19, and a daughter, 17.

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