Paul Szmal: Joining us on Zoom right now is a candidate for the first ever seat on the Cayuga County Family Court. They're creating a brand new family court. Judge Kristen Garland is with us. Good morning.
Kristen Garland: Good morning. It's good to have you here. The website is electjudgegarland.com.
Paul Szmal: So the obvious first question is, what interested you in becoming the first Cayuga County Family Court judge?
Kristen Garland: Well, I'll tell you that I think that this position is a 10-year position. The family court is a place that I think everyone is connected to in some way. I think everyone that we know has been affected by family court. It's where we hear child custody, child support matters, juvenile delinquency matters, child neglect and abuse matters. And, you know, the seriousness of the court and seeing is that I've been a judge for six years and I'm uniquely qualified with my experience and my practice before becoming a judge. That is what interested me.
Paul Szmal: You have experience on the bench, but it's not just in criminal trials. You've been in things like housing court, small claims, drug treatment court. So as a judge, you have to apply the law, but you also want to do the best you can for the families and the people before you. And certainly that's the case in family court. So how do you balance those interests?
Kristen Garland: I think that it's difficult. I often say that if you find judging people easy, then you shouldn't be doing it. So it's a difficult job to balance those issues. But, you know, I think that in family court, we are looking at the best interest of children and then the best interest of families. And, you know, it's not an easy space to be in. I think that one of the areas that I have developed experience in city court that is going to be helpful on the family court bench here in particular is addressing the backlog of cases. I've been on the bench through the pandemic and came back into my civil court after over a year of those cases not being able to be heard. The cases didn't stop being filed. We just couldn't hear them. So I had to, you know, correct that backlog while hearing current cases that were filed. And that's something that I do, you know, have experience in and am qualified to take care of here in our family court.
Paul Szmal: One of the things you've talked about in your background is at one time you lived in Fairhaven in the very northern part of the county. You then moved to the city of Auburn to get closer to medical treatment for a child. So why is that important? What perspective does that give you having lived in the more rural part of the county for a while?
Kristen Garland: Well, my husband is from Fairhaven. He's born and raised there and my in-laws are still there and were there a lot. We lived right in the village for five years. And as you said, we moved into Auburn. My daughter was born with congenital cytomegalovirus. And when she became school-aged, it just became apparent that we needed to move into a larger school district. She actually goes to school in Rochester now at the School for the Deaf. And so I think that's important because I have experienced what it is like living in a rural part of this county where there's not the same level of services that there are in a city and in a major municipality. I know that for families having practiced law living up there, I was assigned as an attorney for children to a lot of children and as an indigent defense attorney to parents that lived up there. It was difficult for them to get supervised visitation, especially when they were struggling with having transportation down to Auburn. Those types of issues I've seen.
Paul Szmal: You have practiced before family court as an attorney and you have a real strong background in advocacy for kids. Talk about that interest and how you bring that background to family court.
Kristen Garland: I do have a strong advocacy. The reason I ended up in law school is I wanted to be an education lawyer. And I quickly realized after my 1L year of working in education law that I didn't feel like I was going to be advocating enough and I wanted to be in the courtroom. So I ended up working in child support and being in court every day. That's where my entire career has been as a family court lawyer. I often say that in my head and heart. That's what I have always been as a family law practitioner. As a social services attorney, I prosecuted child abuse and child neglect cases. It's incredibly heavy work. The idea of going back into family court and doing that, you know, it can be daunting. But it's a necessary need in our society. It's something that I'm good at and it's where my heart is. I also, just in our community, have worked on the truancy issues and have coached varsity track for the past year. So I do a lot. I have two kids, a 14-year-old and a 13-year-old. So I am a big advocate for our children in our community.
Paul Szmal: Now if elected, and by the way we're talking with Judge Kristen Garland, electjudgegarland.com is the website for the brand new family court seat, you would be the first woman judge in any Cayuga County court. What does that mean to you?
Kristen Garland: I think that, you know, I really try to focus on the fact that I am the most qualified for this position. That I have been a judge for the past six years. But I do think that it is monumental. I didn't know until I was interviewed by Robert Harding that I was the first woman to be on the ballot for a county-wide judicial race. Women have been practicing law here for well over 100 years. So I do think it's important to, you know, to take note of that because I think it means something to the women in this county to see themselves represented in our judiciary. And I think it brings a certain unique perspective to family court, being not just a woman but a mom. You've gone through some of the issues, certainly in your life, that you'll be dealing with in the court.
Paul Szmal: I have, and I think that a parent in general. But I also think that, you know, taking that perspective of a mom and a parent and being on the bench has certainly made me a better city court judge too.
Kristen Garland: I have, and I think that a parent in general. But I also think that, you know, taking that perspective of a mom and a parent and being on the bench has certainly made me a better city court judge too.
Paul Szmal: Also, we just talked to the Keuka County Elections folks just the other day about early voting and everything. But if you go to the campaign site, you'll also see some information on early voting because we're getting down to crunch time. It's getting pretty close. I know you did some candidate days in September. Do you have any other appearances or meet the candidate events before November 5th?
Kristen Garland: I do not. Mostly right now, you can look for me in your neighborhood because I'm out on doors all day pretty much every day. Or pick up your phone if it says Kristen Garland's calling you because I've been calling a lot of voters on a daily basis, as have many volunteers. I have so many thanks to give out to the amount of people that are helping me with my campaign. So we'll be calling in your neighborhood. The website is electjudgegarland.com. And there's also, you can like the committee to elect Judge Garland on Facebook. And you're all over all the various social media sites.
Paul Szmal: So my last candidate question is usually the bumper sticker speech. So elect Judge Garland because...
Kristen Garland: I am uniquely qualified for this position and have the most judicial experience. I'm the only candidate with judicial experience and the only candidate with prosecutorial experience.
Paul Szmal: All right. We appreciate your time this morning. Best of luck on November 5th. And thanks for joining us.
Kristen Garland: Thank you. Take care.
