Congratulations to new City Court Judge Diane Vitello, appointed last week to fill the vacancy created when the state Judicial Review Board removed Judge Robert Restaino from the bench.
Judge Vitello is more than qualified for the position, having served in the District Attorney's office and served for seven years as law clerk for the late Family Court Judge Paul Crapsi. She ran for the City Court bench herself in 2002, has served as a member of the Bridge Commission here and has worked as an adjunct professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Niagara County Community College.
Vitello's appointment represents one of the quickest decisions made by Mayor Paul Dyster in the nearly eight months he's served in office and, to our mind, quite probably the best decision as well.
While some have criticized the appointment, pointing out that Vitello's husband, Craig Touma, served as Dyster's campaign manager last year, and even using the dreaded "patronage" word to describe the appointment, we're not buying into it.
Vitello possesses a judge's background and has shown an interest in becoming a City Court judge here. Frankly, we can't think of another qualified candidate who would accept the difficult job.
It's a shame, really, that many of us in Niagara Falls have been so conditioned to look for some cheap motive lurking behind virtually everything that takes place here that even the most well-intentioned moves on the part of an elected official can cause suspicion.
We're certain that any suspicions will be allayed once Vitello takes the bench.
All that said, we continue to believe that the dismissal of Judge Restaino was a grievous mistake, a case in which the totality of a man's life was disregarded in order that some faraway bureaucracy could fulfill its mission and put some local judge's head on the wall as justification for its multimillion-dollar budget. The affirmation of that removal by the state Appellate Court represented nothing less than a travesty of justice.
Mayor Dyster could address the damage done by the state in this matter, and do the city of Niagara Falls a great service in the process, by appointing Judge Restaino to fill the long-vacant position of corporation counsel here. Like Vitello, Restaino has the qualifications, temperament and legal experience to fill the position in way that would do credit to the mayor and his administration.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | June 17 2008 |