Nelida Malave-Gonzalez, a Civil Court judge in the Bronx since 2005, easily captured the surrogate’s position being given up this year by retiring Bronx Surrogate Lee Holzman. According to unofficial returns, with all but one of 917 precincts reporting, Democrat Malave-Gonzalez unofficially had 249,270 votes to 25,237 votes for Frances O’Leary, a retired attorney who ran Nov. 6 on the Republican and Conservative lines.
On Jan. 1, Malave-Gonzalez will succeed Holzman, who was first elected in 1988 but has reached the mandatory retirement age of 70. The Commission on Judicial Conduct is currently considering sanctions against Holzman for failing to monitor fee awards to Michael Lippman, the former chief counsel to the Bronx public administrator, and neglecting to fire Lippman when the counsel’s misconduct was discovered (NYLJ, Sept. 20).
