Free Republic

Former New York State Supreme Court Justice Thomas J. Spargo was convicted today by a federal jury in Albany, N.Y., of attempted extortion and soliciting a bribe, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge John F. Pikus of the FBI’s Albany office announced. Spargo, 66, was convicted following a three-day jury trial. Evidenced introduced at trial showed that on Nov. 13, 2003, Spargo solicited a $10,000 payment from an attorney with cases pending before him in Ulster County, while Spargo was serving as a state supreme court justice. The trial evidence showed...

At a time when the Commission on Judicial Conduct is up in arms over the political conduct of a few judges, the agency's chief attorney in Albany, N.Y., is fighting for his free speech rights. Stephen F. Downs, 61, was arrested at a suburban shopping mall on Monday after refusing to take off a T-shirt that read "Peace on Earth" on one side and "Give Peace a Chance" on the other. When they were asked by security officers to remove the shirts or leave, Downs' 31-year-old son complied, but the senior Downs refused. The guards then summoned the Guilderland town...

When election law expert and longtime Republican activist Thomas J. Spargo was caught on film participating in a noisy political demonstration, nobody close to politics was particularly surprised. Spargo is a seasoned regular in the political game, and that he would show up in Florida at the Miami-Dade County Board of Elections during the Bush-Gore electoral debacle of November 2000 was almost predictable. But there was one thing troubling about that image. At the same time he was stumping for George W. Bush and chanting with other Republican supporters at what amounted to a boisterous sit-in, Spargo was serving as...