Andreatta: Astacio's fate delayed by lack of stenographer

The administrator of the state commission deciding whether Rochester City Court Judge Leticia Astacio will stay a judge went to the state Legislature the other day begging for money.

In doing so, Robert Tembeckjian offered an extraordinary insight into why the State Commission on Judicial Conduct's investigation into Astacio is taking so long.

Tembeckjian told the Joint Legislative Budget Hearing her case might have been disposed of six months ago had the commission only had the money to hire a stenographer to transcribe testimony given in the investigation.

Six months. Six months?! The revelation should infuriate anyone who's been waiting for the commission to act on Astacio.

In that time, the state has paid Astacio roughly $86,850 — half of her $173,700 salary — to do nothing related to being a judge. Coincidentally, Astacio hasn’t reported to work in almost six months.

Meanwhile, the annual base pay for a court stenographer in the New York State Unified Court System is $75,544.

More: Judge weighs Astacio's request to reconsider appeal

Tembekjian explained the commission cut stenographers to save money. He said testimony for all its investigations are recorded and then transcribed by secretaries who shoehorn in the task between their other duties.

“A case such as the one you mentioned might have been disposed of six months ago if we had the resources commensurate with our responsibility,” Tembekjian told Sen. Catharine Young, a Republican from Cattaraugus County, who asked specifically about Astacio.

“Just the physical task of producing transcripts to the extent that we generate them every year can add two to six months to the disposition of a case,” Tembeckjian added.

More: State budget testimony of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct

No criminal case has captivated the Rochester region for as long, or undermined public confidence in the judicial system, as that of Astacio in many years.

For two years, her case has been a conveyor belt of absurdity perpetuated by her outlandish behavior, a sleepover with Thai monks, a revolving door of lawyers, missteps by the defense and prosecution, stints in jail, and hand-wringing by an incredulous public.

More: Andreatta: We're paying Judge Astacio to live with monks

The people of Rochester and, indeed, all New Yorkers whose taxes pay for judicial salaries are ready for the circus to end. Astacio has said she is, too.

To learn the commission might have decided whether to discipline Astacio six months ago but for the lack of a stenographer is an insult.

The commission’s operating budget has been flat at $5.6 million since 2010. For the upcoming fiscal year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed raising it by $112,000.

Tembeckjian testified he needs $541,000 more than last year to fund the commission adequately, but told senators he would settle for $200,000. Beggars can’t be choosers.

That $200,000, he testified, is how much the commission saves each year by eliminating stenographers. Over the last eight years, he said, the commission’s overall staff has fallen to 41 employees from 51 because the commission can’t afford to replace workers who leave.

In the meantime, the commission is handling more cases than ever. Last year, it fielded nearly 2,100 new complaints — the most in its history — conducted 485 preliminary inquiries and 339 investigations.

Astacio was one of those investigations.

More: Andreatta: State must act on Judge Leticia Astacio

February marks two years since she was arrested for drunken driving and the last time she presided over a case in Rochester City Court.

Her absence from the bench is mostly of her own doing, although she might argue she would hold court as ably as any jurist if only she were allowed. Her supervisors have barred her from taking the bench.

After she was convicted and subsequently violated her sentence, her bosses banned her from private areas of the courthouse. They’ve since assigned her to administrative duties at the court, but she hasn’t shown up since August, citing a medical condition.

Yet as a duly-elected judge, Astacio still gets paid like one.

That’s because the glacially-moving commission is the only body in New York with the authority to remove a judge and strip her of her pay.

Whether Astacio’s conduct warrants her removal from the bench is up to the commission’s 11 members. They could slap her on the wrist with a censure or admonition, or decide she’s done nothing wrong and recommend her supervisors restore her judicial duties.

Whatever their decision, at least Astacio and the public would know where she stands and whether she’ll be around through the end of her term, which expires in 2024.

Cuomo has proposed a $168 billion budget for the entire state. The commission wants about $6.1 million of it.

That little extra will buy more than a stenographer. In Rochester, it’ll buy peace of mind.

David Andreatta is a Democrat and Chronicle columnist. He can be reached at dandreatta@gannett.com.