Digest: A judge may permit the judge's law clerk to serve as a member of the county committee of a political party but not on the executive committee of the county committee.
 

Rule: 22 NYCRR 100.5(C)(1).
 
 

Opinion:

            A judge inquires if there is an obligation to prohibit the judge's law clerk from accepting the position of committeeman in a political party of a county adjacent to the county in which the judge and law clerk serve.

            The Rules Governing Judicial Conduct require a judge to prohibit members of the judge's staff who are the judge's personal appointees from holding an elective office in a political organization, except as a delegate to a judicial nominating convention or a member of a county committee other than the executive committee of a county committee. 22 NYCRR 100.5(C)(1).

            The law clerk as a personal appointee of the inquiring judge, is subject to this rule. Thus, since membership on a county committee (other than the executive committee of the county committee) is specifically permitted, the judge is not required to prohibit the law clerk from serving as a committeeman. The fact that the position is in an adjacent county is of no significance.