Judicial Delegate Candidate Biographies for the Feb., 19^th 2025 meeting

The following Club members have been nominated for 2025 Judicial Delegate.

Alan Flacks is an experienced delegate to the judicial Nominating Convention, having served many times. He is conversant with the procedures, and delegates seek his guidance. He is committed to the merit screening panel process, which he helped to establish. After each convention, he writes a report of the proceedings for club members and other interested people. A long-time TPID member and Democratic County Committee member, Alan has also served as the Club’s corresponding secretary and membership secretary. His community and civic activities include his block association, the 24th Pct. Community Council, the NAACP, and the St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Community Advisory Board.

Richard Guberman, I'm honored to have been nominated by Edafe Okporo. Born and a lifelong resident of the Upper West Side. But my biggest honor is to be the dad to the most amazing 13-year-old in the world, my daughter. My family has lived on West 97th Street for the last 12 years.  Our long-time family home is in 69th Assembly District, Part A. I am a former rent-stabilized tenant for almost 20 years in an Upper West Side rent-stabilized apartment. I taught 7 years in New York City Board of Education as a Special Education teacher. I then entered the private sector, owned an insurance brokerage. I returned to teaching and have been a teacher at a NYC title 1 high school in Harlem for 5 years. I was formerly on the junior steering committee of the Community Service Society of New York. Also volunteered at CSSNY as an ombudsman to help poor New Yorkers navigate the bureaucracy of applying for entitlements such as Snap, etc. Previously very active and a member of the executive committee in DL21C in my 20’s through my early 40’s. I had the unique experience of getting to hear candidate Bill Clinton play the saxophone live!  Major values of mine include a Universal Income and major reform of a draconian parole system that reform that re-incarcerates parolees for minor and nonviolent infractions. I attended NYC public schools, earned a B.A. in Sociology from The George Washington University. I then earned my master's in special education from Adelphi University and a post graduate certificate in Financial Planning from New York University. 

Elaine Hazzard is a longtime UWS resident.  An attorney, she has experience in federal and state hearings and trials, and taught law for several campuses of the University of Hawaii.  Admitted to the US Supreme Court and bars of four states, she is active in New York.  Elaine also has experience in RICO law against racketeering.  She has been part of Three Parks efforts since the Clinton campaign in 2016, on County Committee and Judicial Delegate/Alternate since 2019.  With our democracy under threat, securing strong, independent judges who will protect the rights of individuals and the least of us she feels has never been more important.  Like many in NYC she has an artistic side, as a playwright, has won awards, and has had 20 presentations of her work in Hawaii, L.A., New York and the Philippines.

Elizabeth Kellner is a retired attorney, living in Manhattan Valley for 48+ years. A member of TPID for 45 years, she has served as a Judicial Delegate or Alternate several times, as well as Club President and board member. In the 2021 Judicial Delegate Primary in the 69th AD she received more votes than any other candidate. As an attorney, her work involved litigation, i.e., disputes in court. Since retiring, in addition to various Democratic campaigns, Elizabeth has served on the board of a major network of community health care clinics, a public interest foundation affiliated with Columbia Law School (her alma mater), and a child advocacy policy not-for-profit. Her husband maintains an active practice in the New York courts where he regularly follows developments. Her two adult children and daughter-in-law are educators in New York.

Susan Maderer has lived on the Upper West Side for over 40 years. She was a manager in the garment industry before leaving to start her own business as a financial organizer. She has been a member of Three Parks, active in activities such as petitioning, postcard writing, and attending rallies and marches. She is on the Democratic County Committee. Since retiring, she has been an active volunteer such as a co-treasurer of 102nd-103rd Streets Block Association, building rep for Bloomingdale Aging in Place (BAIP), as well as several committees of the New York City Ballet.

Aaron Mendelsohnhas lived in Manhattan Valley with his wife and three children since 2008.  He has been a Three Parks Club Member since 2018 and has served as a Three Parks Judicial Delegate since 2022.  Aaron is an attorney, life-long Democrat and government servant, and has been involved in politics and community organizing since working on the Clinton-Gore campaign in 1996.  Aaron served for more than 10 years as a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice, and has appeared before hundreds of federal, state, and local judges throughout his legal career.  He most recently served as the Director of the New York City Council's Oversight & Investigations Division.  Aaron is committed to, among other issues, equity in criminal justice, education, healthcare, and housing.  

Josh Pepper is an attorney in private practice representing plaintiffs in civil-rights cases. Before moving to private practice, he spent many years in law practice for the state, including stints as an Assistant Attorney General and Deputy Commissioner and General Counsel to the NYS Office of Mental Health. Josh is also a longtime club member and was president in 2007.

Alfred Placeres was formerly a staff attorney for Harlem Legal Services and maintained a law office at 2710 Broadway from 1982 to 2015. He is a former Board Member of Community Board 7, former President and board member of the NYS Federation of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, former Chair, Immigration Law Committee, of the Hispanic National Bar Association, and author of “Como Conseguir Los Papeles.” Civic Awards include Mayor Bloomberg’s Small Business Advocate Award, NYS Comptroller H. Carl McCall Civic Service Award, and the Greater NY Chamber of Commerce Small Business Advocate Award. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer proclaimed July 15, 2019, Alfred Placeres Appreciation Day.

Michael Stearns has belonged to Three Parks Independent Democrats since about 1990. He looks forward to being elected a judicial delegate in addition to his work as the TPID Board of Directors Recording Secretary and greeter at club meetings. He graduated from Pace University and the Columbia Journalism School, and has been a reporter, editor, and publisher for daily, weekly, and monthly newspapers and magazines since 1970. As such, he has become familiar with the roles of judges in the city and state court systems and how they are elected. Michael also has been proud to support TPID in the following additional ways: tabling during the last three Presidential campaigns, leafletting at the 96th Street subway station, working at the 2016 and 2024 storefronts, petitioning for club-endorsed candidates, consistently with his wife Roschel supporting the annual fundraising benefit, writing postcards for the midterm election backing the Rev. Raphael Warnock for U.S. Senate and the 2024 special congressional election for Tom Suozzi, and serving on the NY Democratic County Committee. He also was a poll worker at both West Side High School and the Marseilles from 2016 to 2021.

Stephanie Tegnazian has been a TPID member for approximately 30 years and involved in the judiciary selection process since Lloyd McAuley began the interview forums. She has visited Housing Court, Court of Claims, Family Court, Civil Court, Supreme Court, and Appellate Court to better understand how judges do their jobs. Stephanie worked on Gale Brewer's successful City Council and Borough President campaigns, and also campaigned for State Senator Robert Jackson and for Congresspersons Max Rose (Staten Island) and Jess King (PA). In 2023 she became involved with NY VOTES, a statewide grassroots advocacy group dedicated to guiding lawmakers in Albany on what needs to be changed in our NYS voting laws. She feels highly qualified to be a judicial representative and represent TPID in this highly important process.

Doug Whelan grew up in western New York and has lived in the neighborhood since mid-2019, when he moved to the city shortly after college. He served as an alternate delegate in 2022, 2023, and 2024, and has been a Three Parks board member for the last two years. Outside of the club, Doug is a third-year law student at Fordham. He is very eager to continue learning more about the judicial selection process and help ensure that principled, compassionate, and well-qualified judges are selected for the bench, especially at a time when our state courts are needed more than ever to counterbalance the crisis unfolding at the federal level.

Anthony (Tony) Zak is a long-time Upper West Sider, having resided in the same UWS zip code since 1953 and the same building since 1992, where he lives with his wife and where they raised their three children.  He has been a registered Democrat since 1966. He was elected twice to the NY County Democratic Committee, once in the early 1970s and again in 2023.  Now retired, he worked for approximately 50 years in mainframe IT.  He has been a member of TPID since 2018 and has solicited nominating petition signatures multiple times.  He also serves as a poll worker on election days in various inspector positions. He served as a petit juror on several federal and NY county criminal trials.  He served as a NY county grand juror twice and appeared as a witness once. The qualities he looks for in a judge include analytic skills, attention to detail, communication skills, critical thinking skills, and decision-making skills.  He served the club last year as an alternate judicial delegate and wishes to continue his service as a delegate.