THOMAS SPARGO: Then & Now: A tale of Republican corruption or A slimer slimed

Then (December 2000) from AP story:

Thomas Spargo of Albany, N.Y., a GOP elections observer called by the Bush team, testified that ballots in Miami-Dade were ``subjected to a lot of mishandling.'' Gore's lawyers tried to get that stricken from the record, but the judge refused.

Gore lawyer Kendall Coffey questioned Spargo about his role in GOP demonstrations at the Miami-Dade canvassing board on Nov. 22, a display Democrats claim intimidated the counters and was a factor in their decision to stop. The board chairman has said it was not a factor.

Coffey displayed a photograph of Spargo among the demonstrators.
Spargo played down the episode.

"There was some, if you will, chanting,'' he said when Judge Sauls asked him what was going on that day.

He said the chanting was to protest that the canvassers were excluding Republicans and the media from their proceedings.

Spargo said there was nothing approaching a riot. ``There was no fighting, there was no roughhousing,'' he said.
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Now:

Panel Calls for Removing N.Y. Judge
By MARC HUMBERT ALBANY, N.Y. Mar 31, 2006

(AP)— A state commission has recommended removing a judge who sought donations to his defense fund from lawyers who were trying cases before him.

In the opinion released Friday, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct also scolded Justice Thomas Spargo for giving out $5 gift coupons for gas and coffee and buying drinks for potential voters in a local campaign in 1999.

Spargo will accept the removal rather than appeal to the state's highest court, said his lawyer, E. Stewart Jones Jr...http://tinyurl.com/lyqoc
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