Two seek bench in Sweden justice race

Two seek bench in Sweden justice race

Incumbent William Cody, who is seeking to retain his town justice post in the Town of Sweden, will face James Coates in the bid for the justice seat. Cody is running on the Republican and Conservative lines while Coates is on the Democratic and Save Jobs party lines.

James Coates said he feels he can contribute to the well-being of the community by using his intervention and counseling skills in the town court.

"As a Corrections Counselor for New York state, I supervise a 120-inmate alcohol and substance abuse program at Orleans Correctional Facility in Albion," he said. "I think we should see more intervention in lower courts. It is my position that a multi-faceted sentence structure can go a long way to reducing recidivism and make our community a safer place to raise our families."

Coates feels that his 16 years of counseling criminal offenders would be good experience for the justice seat.

"I have been a New York state credentialed alcohol and substance abuse counselor since 1990," he said. He also holds several degrees and has studied policy in Bristol, England and has visited prisons in Australia and New Zealand. "I was one of the co-founders of the First Soviet American Conference on Alcoholism."

Coates said he knows that counseling and intervention are not the sole answer. "Each of us must be held accountable for our actions. If we choose to break the laws of society, then we must be held accountable and rightly so," he said.

He and his wife, Pat, are life-long residents of Brockport.

While he is not an attorney, Coates said that most town and village justices are not lawyers. "According to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct in their 2004 Annual Report, there are 2,236 town and village justices and only 400 of that number are lawyers," he explained. "That means that 1,836 town and village justices are not lawyers."

He said he believes in accountability, fairness and justice. "I believe some people should be in jail and some should serve their maximum sentence. If we can reduce the number of times a person stands before a judge, me or someone else, we reduce the likelihood that the person will kill a loved one, break into your house or sell drugs to your kids to support his/her own habit," he said.

Incumbent William Cody has been an attorney since 1978 and has served as the Town of Sweden justice since May 2001. When asked why he was seeking re-election, Cody said, "When you're an incumbent you always feel there is more you can accomplish and more of yourself that you can give to the community to complete the work you've begun."

Many attorneys, Cody said, aspired to become judges because they have a true affinity for the law. "Becoming a justice is a transition point for an attorney - it's the ultimate service an attorney can provide to their community - to promote the principles of the law," he said.

Cody feels his greatest accomplishment while on the bench has been treating everyone with respect and treating each case individually.

"I don't look at people as a class - all DWI offenders grouped as one for example," he said. "Every case needs to be looked at with an impartial eye and every person that comes before me is treated as an individual and is treated with respect."

He said that while many town and village justices are not attorneys and they are quite good at what they do, they have not dedicated their careers to the law.

"I have dedicated my life and career to the law from making the decision to become an attorney to going through law school and subsequently passing the bar - not only in New York but in Massachusetts as well," he said. "When a justice is also an attorney, the have a better grasp of the law and all its intricacies. It's advantageous to a community to have a sitting justice who is also an attorney."

He and his wife, Debra, have a daughter.

"I continue to have a strong desire to serve the community and am a dedicated, experienced jurist," he said.

The term for a town justice is four years and brings with it an annual stipend of $15,476.