Spitzer Choice Confirmed
Transit Strike Judge Joins Appeals Court

By GINGER ADAMS OTIS

The State Senate approved Theodore T. Jones's nomination to the Court of Appeals Feb. 12, but only after asking a few pointed questions about his role in the December 2005 transit strike that paralyzed the city.

THEODORE T. JONES: Stands by strike penalties.

Judge Jones, 62, was Governor Spitzer's first nominee to the state's highest court. He won easy confirmation from Senators on both sides of the aisle.

Jailed TWU Leader

As a Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice, Mr. Jones became a public figure after briefly jailing Transport Workers' Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint last spring for leading transit workers on a 60-hour walk-out.

He also imposed a $2.5-million fine on the union and revoked its automatic dues check-off rights for at least three months, pending a promise from Mr. Toussaint that he'll never authorize a strike again.

Sen. Bill Perkins, a Democrat from East Harlem, said he didn't fully endorse Judge Jones's decisions in the legal challenges to Local 100's strike. Much of the blame seemed to go to the workers, Mr. Perkins said.

"I was very disappointed when the union went on strike," Mr. Jones responded. "But I was determined not to let anyone use the court as part of the labor negotiations. So what I did was enforce the Taylor Law as written. I did not enact the Taylor Law. It's not my job."

Mr. Perkins also suggested that the penalty set by Judge Jones - $1 million for every day workers stayed off the job - was too harsh.

'Not Extraordinary'

"That was not an extraordinary penalty from where I was sitting," Mr. Jones replied. "I could have ratcheted it up so high. New York was losing billions - it was right before Christmas. I tried to balance out the competing interests."

Republican Senators took the opposite approach, praising Judge Jones for his rigorous interpretation of the law.

"My belief is that you should not apologize for strictly enforcing the statutes of the State of New York," said Sen. Michael Nozzolio, a Republican from Seneca County. "It was an illegal strike."

GOP Senators did, however, express concern over Judge Jones's rise through the Brooklyn court system, which has been the subject of several probes into the alleged sale of judgeships. They indicated they'd done extensive research "looking for a smoking gun," but according to Sen. Dale M. Volker, "we couldn't hardly find anything uncomplimentary."

Judge Jones was nominated by Governor Spitzer to take the place of Judge Albert M. Rosenblatt, who was appointed by former Gov. George Pataki in 1998 and left the court Dec. 31 after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.

Judge Jones is the fourth African-American to serve on the Court of Appeals. The court had been without a black member since last August - when then-Governor George Pataki declined to reappoint George Bundy Smith - for the first time since 1985.