Word: wachtler
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...feel indebted to senators who appointed them. Or state judges may be connected to governors or lawyers who nominated them. In a judicial system without checks and popular participation, these judges might engage in corrupt political dealings and remain unaccountable to the public. The current case of Sol Wachtler, chief judge of New York State, who has resigned from the bench in the wake of charges that he threatened to extort money from a woman with whom he had an affair, is indicative of such improprieties...
WITH HIS PHOTO-OP JAW, LUSTROUS CREST OF HAIR and baritone voice, Sol Wachtler could have played a judge on television if he had not actually been one. As chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals, Wachtler headed one of the nation's most influential state courts. State Republican leaders wanted him to challenge Mario Cuomo if the New York Governor chose to run again in 1994. But nobody is talking much about Wachtler's political future any longer. It's hard to envision the campaign trail of a man under house arrest...