Town Justice Resigns After Probe of His Facebook Remarks
Christopher C. Clarkin, a justice of the Floyd Town Court since 1999 who is not an attorney, has agreed to resign after an investigation by the Commission on Judicial Conduct into his Facebook postings criticizing public officials and conveying biases in favor of law enforcement and against other groups.
December 18, 2017 at 03:09 PM
2 minute read
Photo: aradaphotography/Shutterstock.com
ALBANY — A justice of the Floyd Town Court in Oneida County will resign from office at the end of the year after the state Commission on Judicial Conduct investigated comments he made on Facebook criticizing public officials and conveying bias toward law enforcement.
Christopher C. Clarkin, a justice of the Floyd Town Court since 1999 who is not an attorney, made comments on Facebook criticizing public officials and New York's gun regulations, according to the Commission on Judicial Conduct. Clarkin, who is also a justice of the Oriskany Village Court and the Whitesboro Village Court, also “conveyed bias in favor of law enforcement and against a political organization, a social activists' group and members of a religious group” on Facebook, the stipulation by the commission said Monday.
A spokeswoman for the commission did not immediately answer requests to elaborate on what the organizations Clarkin criticized on Facebook were.
Clarkin, according to the commission, was made aware that he was being investigated over his remarks on social media in November. Clarkin, who has been a Floyd Town Court justice since 1999, has agreed to vacate judicial office effective Dec. 31, and will neither seek nor accept judicial offices in the future.
In a statement, Robert Tembeckjian, the commission's administrator, said judges should maintain being unbiased on social media.
“On social media as anywhere else, a judge must uphold the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary, and avoid conduct that conveys or appears to convey bias for or against particular political, religious or other groups,” Tembeckjian said.
Clarkin was represented in the investigation by New Hartford, New York-based attorney Leslie R. Lewis. Lewis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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