Sunnyside lawyer running as Republican to oversee Queens Surrogate's Court hopes to topple Democrat - Sunnyside Post (2024)

Aug. 1, 2024 By Iryna Shkurhan

For the first time in decades, a Republican candidate will be on the ballot this November for the judgeship position overseeing the Queens County Surrogate’s Court.

Stephen Weiner, a longtime Sunnyside resident with four decades of experience as a lawyer but none as a judge, said he hopes his candidacy will keep the race competitive and potentially shake up the longtime Democratic party’s hold on the judicial position, which deals with probate, wills and estate proceedings.

“There hasn’t been a Republican running for Surrogate Judge of Queens that anyone can remember. Because it was always assumed that there wouldn’t be a competitive race,” Weiner said in a phone interview with QNS.

For the past 20 years, he has primarily identified as a lawyer exclusively dealing with wills, trusts and estates. So when he heard that the seat was opening up at the end of a 14-year term, he reached out to the Queens County GOP in hopes of securing their nomination. With his years of experience standing in front of the Surrogate Judge as a lawyer, he made the case for his step on the judicial ladder.

Since kicking off the campaign, he has collected endorsem*nts from both the Conservative Party and the newer Common Sense Party. Individuals who publicly backed him include Curtis Sliwa and Ozone Park City Council Member Joann Ariola.

The rare challenge from the right comes after a highly contested Democratic primary in June, in which Hon. Cassandra Johnson beat Hon. Wendy Li by a slim margin. That race also marked the first primary since 1962.

Weiner, an Ivy League-educated lawyer who studied first at Yale College and then Columbia Law School, did not always align with the Republicans.

He started his law career in 1985, working as a litigation attorney for several Manhattan firms. At the time, he identified as a Democrat, he said, noting that he was raised by two left-leaning parents in the Bronx, where he also attended The Bronx High School of Science.

But it was around the time that Rudy Guiliani was mayor in the 1990s that he says he began to align more closely with Republicans.

“He was the best mayor that I saw in my lifetime,” recalled Weiner. “The city was getting prosperous. There was a lot of opportunity. And there was a tremendous decrease in crime, including in the kind of poor areas of the city where I grew up.”

He credits the Republican party for giving him the opportunity to serve as the Commissioner of Elections for Queens from 1997 to 2004. Thisrole involves overseeing election operations to ensure fair and ethical conduct throughout the county.

“To me, [being a] Republican is about focusing on opportunity and trying to lift people up out of poverty,” he said, noting that he believes the party comes with a different set of values outside of New York.

During Guiliani’s tenure, Weiner also went out on his own and started his own private law practice, and moved to Sunnyside with his wife, where they continue to live today.

His very first case after going off on his own involved representing the widow of a famous writer who was not receiving adequate income from a trust. This type of case is common in the Surrogate’s Court, but Weiner said his focus on these types of proceedings came on gradually.

The gradual shift was partly sparked by his appointment by then-Queens Surrogate Court Judge Hon. Robert Nahman to serve as a lawyer for unrepresented parties. He took on about a dozen cases at a time, dealing with various cases such as kinship, estates and guardianship.

By the time Giuliani’s term ended, Weiner says he solidified himself as a lawyer solely focused on estate planning, wills and guardianship.

Since getting the Republican Party’s backing to run, he has formed a committee to campaign and fundraise throughout the borough. Judicial candidates cannot solicit funds themselves, but they can attend community meetings and provide voters with information and tips related to estate planning.

“People really suffer because they’re not informed enough,” said Weiner. “A lot of people don’t understand how those things protect them. But they’re important to establish.”

He cited couples who do not legally marry and are thereby hit with higher taxes on inheritance money and property than those who officially tie the knot. He also cited elderly people who do not appoint a healthcare proxy prior to their health deteriorating.

While working in the Surrogate’s Court, he’s also noticed a rise in the number of pro se litigants who represent themselves without an attorney. These cases require more patience and “an extra degree of sensitivity” to ensure proper information throughout the process.

In response to voters who may question his lack of experience as a judge, he says: “I think my experience as a lawyer is enough. I would be acting as a judge in the legal area where I’ve really been devoting my time and effort for many years.”

He added that despite Johnson’s experience as both a Civil and Supreme Court Judge in Queens, he has spent more years than her in the legal field.

It is common across the city for Republicans not to hold primaries, given the Democratic stronghold. Furthermore, it is often assumed that the Democratic primary winner will take the position. But Weiner says that Queens voters deserve to have candidates from both parties to choose from in the general election, despite the unbiased nature of the court system.

“I am taking up the banner of reform. And it’s not about a Republican court. I’m not interested in a Republican court. I don’t want to trade one clubhouse for another,” he said.