A dispute over what public records can establish has become an issue in the Glens Falls City Court judge race. Warren County correctional records reportedly show two bookings and 54 days in custody for Brian Pilatzke in connection with alleged Family Court Act violations, The Post-Star reports. The entries, as described in the report, do not explain the allegations or their outcome.
Pilatzke, a Democrat, is seeking a 10-year term as Glens Falls City Court judge, according to the Warren County Board of Elections. The Warren County Republican and Conservative Party committees have jointly called on him to explain the records publicly, The Post-Star reports.
Two kinds of records
New York law treats Family Court case files differently from jail records. Family Court Act § 166 says case records are not open to indiscriminate public inspection, while allowing a court to permit inspection. The statute governs access to those files; it does not disclose the facts or disposition of the matters involving Pilatzke. The statute sets out that restriction and exception.
The state Committee on Open Government has advised that § 166 is not an absolute bar to disclosure and that courts have discretion over inspection. Its interpretation concerns access rules, not the specific Family Court matters at issue here. Separately, a 2007 committee opinion quoted Correction Law § 500-f as requiring county jail commitment and discharge records to be kept as public records. That rule addresses jail records; it does not establish what happened in the underlying Family Court proceedings. The committee’s § 166 opinion and its 2007 opinion on jail records describe those separate frameworks.
The reported bookings and custody time, therefore, do not by themselves supply an account of the alleged violations or their outcome. The party committees’ demand for an explanation is part of the campaign dispute; the cited records and legal guidance do not resolve the underlying Family Court questions.
