CANTON, New York (WWNY) – On a cold morning in Canton, Nicholas Pignone announced his candidacy for St. Lawrence County Surrogate Court Judge.
The position is now up for grabs after current judge Jon Richey announced his retirement earlier this week. He held the seat on the bench since 2015.
“For me, this is something I have been thinking about for many years, and something that with the more conservative attorneys have wanted to make happen,” said Pignone.
Pignone, a Republican, has been practicing law in New York for 16 years.
During his tenure, he has served in different capacities like the Public Defender’s Office, Potsdam Village Judge, and ran his own private practice.
He feels these experiences will help in surrogate court if elected.
“I’ve done a lot of civil work, mostly through family court at first and in my judgeship, I did a lot of civil cases, could be landlord-tenant issues, a small claim action, things like that,” said Pignone.
Pignone says his decision to run for the position is also a personal one.
His father passed when he was only 3 years old and he did not have an active will prepared at the time, a matter that falls directly into surrogate court.
“I don’t think things were handled well for me when I was a child. Obviously, I had no control over it. But in hindsight, I don’t think it was done well, and you know, that’s something I don’t want to see happen to anybody else,” said Pignone.
And although Pignone is the first to come forward for the seat, he knows he may not be the last.
Richey’s resignation is setting up an election for the job this fall.
Copyright 2022 WWNY. All rights reserved.
