BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week

NORFOLK — Norfolk Town Justice candidate Derek Stevenson says he doesn’t plan to comment on allegations made against him by the chair of the Norfolk Democratic Committee until he’s had time to review them.

“I don’t think it would be prudent to comment on anything that I haven’t even seen. It’s all just allegations at this time,” he said, adding that if an investigation is in fact underway, he hasn’t been made aware yet.

Chair of the Norfolk Democratic Committee Jason Clark says he has filed ethics charges against Norfolk Town Justice candidate Derek Stevenson with the New York State Office of Court Administration and the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

Clark says he filed 12 complaints against Stevenson, totaling 253 pages on Friday.

The complaints primarily involve allegations of content that Stevenson has allegedly posted on his Facebook page since he announced his candidacy as a judicial candidate.

Clark says the New York State Code on Judicial Conduct expressly prohibits all of these matters.

Stevenson said he wasn’t running a race against Clark, but said he intends to continue his race for Norfolk Town Justice.

“I’m running for town justice because I love the Norfolk community. But once again we see the politics of personal destruction. Isn’t it time we quit this business. The little town of Norfolk does not need Washington and Albany type politics,” he said. “I have a lifetime of community service and a record of helping others. I will stand on that.”

Clark, however, says Stevenson’s Facebook comments have violated judicial ethics rules.

He says illicit content includes multiple examples of:

• Promoting Support and Sympathy for Government Insurrection and Armed Rebellion

• Encouraging Homophobia

• Promoting Judicial Partiality in Favor of Law Enforcement

• Indicating a Predisposition to Decide Cases in a Certain Way

• Normalizing Misogyny and Violence Against Women

• Encouraging Vigilantism and Condoning Unlawfulness

• Encouraging Binge Drinking of Alcohol and Drunkenness

• Normalizing Racism and Bigotry

• Promoting Support and Sympathy for Debunked Political and Social Conspiracy Theories

• Promoting the Violation of Federal and State Law

• Lending Support Toward, to the Point of Encouraging, Violence in Sports

• Advancing Highly Partisan and Inflammatory Political Positions

“With more than thirty years of working with candidates, I have never witnessed anything so vile and inappropriate for a judicial candidate as what Mr. Stevenson has put it into the public realm. It’s not simply a matter of bad taste; with so many despicable posts, these are clearly a collective indication of how he would conduct himself on the bench. Members of the judiciary are required to be impartial and nonpartisan in New York State. Mr. Stevenson’s Facebook feed demonstrates that he is neither; and with an established pattern of behavior spanning more than eighteen months, that isn’t about to change,” Clark said.

Derek Stevenson is running against Norfolk Town Justice Jill Breit.

In his release, Clark also endorsed Breit.

In his complaints, Clark has requested that public discipline be imposed upon Stevenson to protect the public, maintain the honor and integrity of the judiciary, and to deter others from committing similar misconduct.