Opinion 94-66

June 16, 1994

Digest:         A judge may not serve on the fundraising committee or contribute to the campaign of a candidate for elective political office in another state.

Rule:             22 NYCRR 100.7, 100.7(c),(d),(e)

Opinion:

         A full-time judge asks whether he/she may (1) serve on a fundraising committee on behalf of a law school classmate who is seeking the nomination of a political party for the office of Governor of a state other than New York, and (2) make a personal financial contribution to the candidate's campaign.

         The answer to both questions is in the negative. Rule 100.7 of the Rules of the Chief Administrator (22 NYCRR 100.7) provides that:

No judge during a term of office shall hold any office in a political party or organization or contribute to any political party or political campaign or take part in any political campaign except his or her own campaign for elective judicial office. Political activity prohibited by this section includes:

. . . .

(c) Participation, either directly or indirectly, in any political campaign for any office, except his or her own campaign for elective judicial office.

(d) Being a member of or serving as an officer or functionary of any political club or organization or being an officer of any political party or permitting his or her name to be used in connection with any activity of such political party, club or organization.

(e) Any other activity of a partisan political nature.

         The circumstances that the solicitation would be addressed exclusively to alumni who were contemporaries of the candidate at law school, and that the candidacy is for elective office in another state, are both irrelevant.