Binghamton judge censured, returning to bench in April
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – Judge Daniel Seiden is returning to Binghamton City Court after being censured for contributing to a hostile work environment.
Seiden was escorted from City Hall by security on July 23, 2024, as he was coming off the bench from hearing a case and was forced to clear out his office several days later. He was transferred to Cortland City Court under the guise of needing to assist that court because it was understaffed.
According to court filings, Seiden was not told that he was the subject of an administrative complaint and the Unified Court System refused to acknowledge to News 34 that he was under investigation. Thus, Binghamton voters were unaware of the accusations against him when they re-elected him unopposed to another 10-year term in November.
It was only then that Seiden says in a court filing that he was informed of the accusation against him.
It all stems from a meeting he had with the Binghamton Court Clerk Jennifer Katz back in April of 2023 in which Seiden admits that he strenuously objected to an administrative switch from a manual to a web-based tracking system for criminal cases.
During that heated argument, Seiden said 'stay out of my shorts' which he claims is a colloquial way of saying 'stay out of my business.'
According to the state's Commission on Judicial Conduct, which released the censure today, Seiden also made disparaging comments about his fellow judges, blamed Katz for the loss of capable staff and refused to use the new system.
Nevertheless, the 6th Judicial District's Administrative Judge Eugene Faughnan waited 15 months to have Seiden removed under armed guard in an apparent effort to embarrass him. After January 1, when the Cortland Court returned to full staff and when Binghamton had lost a judge, Seiden remained in exile.
So, he filed an Article 78 procedure seeking to be returned to the jurisdiction that he was re-elected to and complaining about his 500-mile-per-week commute. In that filing, he accused Faughnan, Katz and Katz's husband Joshua Shapiro, who is Faughnan's Special Counsel, of fostering a corrosive culture.
Ultimately, the CJC finally came to a determination that Seiden should be censured for his behavior and Seiden voluntarily completed a course on appropriate workplace communication and accepted the censure.
He is now scheduled to return to City Court on April 28.
His term is set to expire at the end of 2028 because he will have reached the mandatory retirement age of 70.
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