Letter to the Editor, Published in The Saratogian 4/11/2008

I’m Matt Dorsey, Republican candidate for Saratoga Springs City Court Judge. If elected, I’ll work hard to make our City Court more open and responsive to the needs of our community.

To help achieve this goal, I would start a student internship program in Saratoga Springs City Court for high school and college students. Our neighbors in the town of Saratoga have a very successful Student Internship Program, which they started in 2004. Since its inception, that program has graduated 30 interns from local high schools and colleges.

We’re fortunate to have an excellent public high school, as well as several fine private high schools in our community. In addition, we are home to Skidmore College, and several other colleges are close by.

Opening the program to Skidmore College students, in particular, would bring the benefit of their diverse experiences to the program. I sincerely believe the fresh perspectives of those new to our city combined with the knowledge of long time citizens makes our city the wonderful, dynamic place that it is.

I’ve previously proposed a “Courtroom to Your Room” program to reach out to members of our community. In addition, I’ve proposed having quarterly practitioner meetings with the attorneys who practice before the court. Through these outreach initiatives, we’ll develop more ideas to make our city court the best that it can be.

Saratoga Town Justice David Mathis recently said “We felt that courts should be really part of their communities . . . Courts can do a lot more for their communities than just deal with violators.” I couldn’t agree more, and I look forward to the opportunity to make Saratoga Springs City Court more open and responsive to the needs of our great community. To learn more about my campaign, please visit my Web site at www.Dorsey2008.com.