By Dan Murphy
On June 23, Yonkers Democrats will be voting on three of their party’s nominees for City Court. Five candidates are seeking the three seats on the Yonkers bench. They are: Judge Tom Daly, Judge Brendan McGrath, attorney Verris Shako, attorney Dan Romano, and Administrative Law Judge Karen Best.
The Yonkers Democratic Party held a convention earlier this year, (before COVID), and nominated Daly, McGrath, and Shako, with a supermajority of the 400 Yonkers district leaders casting their votes for the three democratic nominees.
Since then, this team of Judicial candidates has campaigned through the coronavirus and across the city. Along the way, they have picked 20 endorsements, from a wide range of groups, organizations, and Yonkers democrats, including Mayor Mike Spano, County Legislators Christopher Johnson, Jose Alvarado and Ruth Walter, The Hudson Valley Stonewall Democrats, and the Yonkers PBA.
This group of three judicial candidates has become a team that everyone can agree on. Well almost everyone. While the campaign has included a number of negative attacks, not seen before in a judicial race, Daly, Shako and McGrath have focused on their experience, integrity and character that will best serve the people of Yonkers when they become City Court Judges.
For this reason, Yonkers Rising endorses Judge Tom Daly, Judge Brendan McGrath, and Verris Shako for Yonkers City Court Judge.
Judge Tom Daly has served the people of Yonkers for more than three decades. If elected he will become the Chief Judge of the Yonkers City Court, and we look forward to him leading the Yonkers City Court, Judges, and staff.
Judge Daly’s life of public service has been based on honesty and decency and we want to see him on the bench as Chief Judge because he has earned it.
Judge Brendan McGrath was recently appointed to the City Court by Mayor Mike Spano last year. Prior to becoming a judge, McGrath served as the Yonkers City Inspector General where he uncovered bribes by an inspector in the Building Department and kept a watchful eye over City Hall and the Yonkers Public Schools for the people of Yonkers. He also served as a County Attorney and in the Yonkers Corporation Counsel’s office. McGrath brings all of this experience, plus more than one year on the City bench, to the June 23 Primary.
Attorney Verris Shako, if elected, would become the first African American woman to serve as a Yonkers City Court Judge. And Shako has earned the right to join the Yonkers City Court and make history in November, based on her courtroom experience, here in Yonkers, and in the Westchester Family Courts, where she has advocated for women and families for more than 15 years.
Shako is also deeply involved in the Yonkers community, with children in the Yonkers Public Schools and as a PTA mom. That investment in Yonkers, will serve her well on the City Court.
Shako has also served as a Yonkers Democratic District Leader and has helped other Yonkers Democrats seeking office. This concept, that serving your fellow Yonkers democrats before seeking office yourself, has been tossed out by Daly, McGrath, and Shako’s opponents, as being wrong or something to be ashamed of.
We believe that working within the Yonkers Democratic party, and helping to elect Yonkers Democrats, shows a commitment of helping others, exhibiting teamwork, and having the ability to listen to others. During this campaign and in their public life, Daly, Shako and McGrath all have shown these abilities; their opponents, during this campaign, have not.
We have also seen the hashtag #do your research, tossed around social media in the final days of the campaign. And we STRONGLY encourage our readers to follow this recommendation, and research the experience that each judicial candidate brings to this race.
Now more than ever, elections matter in our Country, and in Yonkers, this is your chance to get out and vote on June 23. Yonkers Rising endorses Tom Daly, Verris Shako and Brendan McGrath for City Court Judge.
