Saturday, June 29, 2024 | St. Lawrence County, NY
To the Editor:
On June 5th, 2024, Rensselaer Falls resident Ron Shirtz had a letter to the editor published that made claims that were misleading at best, and false at worst. Ron Shirtz claimed …
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To the Editor:
On June 5th, 2024, Rensselaer Falls resident Ron Shirtz had a letter to the editor published that made claims that were misleading at best, and false at worst. Ron Shirtz claimed that it was against judicial procedure for Trump to be tried in NYS courts for a federal crime. This is false. A nonpartisan congressional committee report on the Trump conviction reports that:
"On May 30, 2024, former President Trump was convicted in New York state court of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree in violation of New York Penal Law § 175.10."
https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/LSB11174.pdf
In other words, no federal vs state judicial procedure was violated.
The other major claim made by Mr. Shirtz, was that the judge had an ethical duty to recuse himself from the case in question because:
The judge had donated money to President Biden. He contributed money against the GOP and Trump. His daughter is a Democratic organizer who raised millions against both.
I literally laughed out loud when I investigated this claim.The amount donated by the judge to Biden's 2020 presidential campaign? $15.00 USD. Said judge's total donation to the democratic party in 2020? $35.00 USD total, including the $15.00 donated to Biden's campaign.
The judge in question, Justice Merchan brought both issues forward to the New York Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics when he was randomly assigned as the Judge on duty in 2023. The board advised him that while in general judges were prohibited from donating to political campaigns in general, that his indiscretion did not constitute a conflict of interest and he was fit to preside over Trump's trial.
Finally, quoting Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons, is contextually inappropriate in this situation. No substantive judicial misconduct occurred in Trumps's NYS trial. Stormy Daniel's testimony,during the trial while ill advised, did not rise to the level needed to request a mistrial. Trump's conduct on the other hand was inappropriate, and disruptive in the extreme.
Which leads me to a question for Ron Shirtz. If you care so much about the sanctity of the law, where are your letters to the editor complaining about Trump's many abuses of power while in office?
Willow Shirtz
Canton
