ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - An upstate New York judge resigned after it was revealed that he had been driving without a license for the last eight years.
Douglas Gardner agreed to never again hold judicial office after his blatant disregard for the New York’s driving laws were brought to light, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct announced Monday.
Gardner, who served on the bench since January 2011 in Fulton and Herkimer counties, resigned from office on Feb. 12.
The commission, a watchdog organization that imposes discipline on judges who engage in misconduct, laid out a series of charges against Gardner, including mishandling of court funds resulting in a deficit of nearly $1,300 as well as operating a vehicle without a valid driver’s license.
“Flouting the law by driving for more than eight years without a valid license, while presiding in town courts that hear traffic offenses, is indefensible and undermines public confidence in the judiciary,” Commission Administrator Robert Tembeckjian said in a statement.
In December, Gardner apologized to the commission in a letter. He said he was going through personal issues and that his mind was “in other places then where it should have been.” At one point, he appeared to blame his former wife for his state of mind.
Between June 2018 and August 2018, the former town justice had received about $743 in cash for payments of fines that he did not deposit in the Stratford town court bank account, the commission said in a formal complaint in December.
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