Stephen Weiner in the Queens Ledger newsroom. Credit: Jean Brannum
By Jean Brannum | jbrannum@queensledger.com
Trust, estate planning, and estate litigation lawyer Stephen Weiner is vying to become the next Surrogate Court judge for Queens. Weiner is the Republican counterpart to Cassandra Johnson, who has been endorsed by the Democratic Party and beat Wendy Li in the primary election.
Weiner wants to become the Surrogate Court judge because he believes he can improve the court using the best practices from other counties and believes his experience as an attorney makes him a prime candidate.
Weiner grew up in the Bronx and moved to Sunnyside in 1982 to be with his wife. During his time at Columbia Law School, he volunteered for the Harlem Legal Aid Society. He started his own practice in 1993 and handles cases in the Surrogate Court. He highlighted his experience with grieving families and tough cases as one of his qualifications to be judge.
“I have experienced what’s realistic in the wills-and-estates world, and what can’t be done. I have sensitivity. There are people, represented and unrepresented, who come in front of the surrogate, and they all need to be listened to.”
Weiner has experience with families at their toughest times, and with making tough decisions. Sometimes people take advantage of their elderly family members, or the deceased drastically changes their wills at the last minute. The adult guardianship system in Tri-State area courts was exposed for corrupt practices that led to elder abuse in an ABC7 Eyewitness News investigation.
In his personal life, Weiner has also dealt with the Surrogate Court. He became a standby guardian for his stepson with special needs.
“If I’m sitting up there as surrogate, I’m a person who knows from the same experience, what parents of developmentally disabled people have to deal with.”
On the subject of his opponent, Cassandra Johnson, Weiner said he has nothing personal against her but did tout his experience as a reason to vote for him over Johnson. Weiner pointed out that Johnson became a licensed attorney in 2007, 22 years after Weiner became one. Johnson currently serves as a Supreme Court judge in Southeast Queens.
Johnson beat her Democratic opponent, Wendy Li in the primary. Li was known for having strong ties with the Chinese-American community and wanting to improve translation access. Weiner said that he agrees with Li’s points about translation and hopes to reach the Chinese-American community before the election.
“If you’re gonna have due process, you can’t have a person who is unable to communicate in English, stranded in front of the judge,” Weiner said.
Another one of Li’s platforms was the need for diversity in the Surrogate Court. Johnson also spoke about this issue. Weiner said he is against prejudice of any kind and argued treating people individually was the best way to address discrimination in the court.
“I want to approach each person as an individual. That’s my philosophy, one by one.”
If he becomes the next Surrogate Court Judge, unlike his opponent, Weiner would only be able to serve four years due to the mandatory retirement age of seventy. This is shorter than the 14-year term standard for the court. Weiner said that he is content with a shorter term and it seems right for him.
The Surrogate Court judge is in a unique spot, politically. The judge cannot speak publicly about political issues or endorse political candidates. The judge is forbidden from directly soliciting campaign donations and cannot bow to the preferences of political parties.
Weiner became a registered Republican, making him a black sheep among a family of Democrats. He volunteered for Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s campaign in 1993 and joined Yale Students for Ronald Reagan when he attended the university.
He hopes to win votes from both parties in the upcoming election. His sister, a Democrat, contributed to his campaign even though she lives in another state. He is grateful to the Republican party for nominating him as well. To win the election, he will need votes from Democrats, but as judge, he would be nonpartisan, Weiner said.
“I’m not going to be looking at people’s Republicans or Democrats in the court. This is not a political court.”
Read about Cassandra Johnson on Queensledger.com
