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PELHAM MANOR, N.Y. Judge Stephen Huff has served Pelham as a town justice for more than 30 years. The Pelham Manor resident works at a law firm in New York City.
Question: What made you decide to seek re-election again?
Answer: Kinship with Judge (Anthony) Pasquantonio, who has been sick. I wanted to have an even condition on the judges sense of things. I was asked by others in the local government. A lot of people just said, Please keep it up. Its comfortable because the work that Ive done for a long time is litigation and Ive loved it. Its been easy enough to continue it. Ive made very good friendships with other judges in the county. Theres a lot of inherent education in that process.
Q: How has the job changed in your 30 years as a town justice?
A: I dont think that it has changed. We have a number of clerks that are excellent. They take great attention to the rights of the people that are brought in there and the attorneys that come in for assignment.
Q: How can you take your experience as a judge and apply it going forward if you are re-elected?
A: Its more of the same experience being applied to the same situations. What you want do is get the stories from all of the parties as clearly as possible and then go for consistency of how they are treated.
Q: Have you encountered any residents who say that youve been a justice for too long?
A: Nobody has. Its been very positive. The back and forth was in this house and that was just, Do you want to do this again? You get involved on different levels with the police, who are excellent here. The things that you care the most about are the protection of the people who live and work here. Its extremely upsetting when somebody has their property or homes invaded.
Q: If you are re-elected what will it be like to not have Judge Pasquantonio serving with you?
A: I cant think of anybody that would be in a better position to cope with that than myself. Having served, it would be a difficulty but not insurmountable by any means. One thing thats less evident to people who look at the court is that we, as judges, get wonderful training from each other and from others on a regular basis.
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