There is some history being made Saturday in Canandaigua. Kitty Karle is being sworn-in as the first female Ontario County judge.
Karle is a longtime attorney, having served as both a prosecutor and defense attorney in Monroe County.
She notes that as a judge, she will be working in the Ontario County courthouse, the same building where suffragist Susan B. Anthony was put on trial for illegally voting in the 1872 presidential election. Anthony was later convicted, but refused to pay the $100 fine.
Karle says the connection to the women’s rights icon is significant for her as she takes the bench next year.
“(Anthony) paved the way for me to be able to vote, to be able to run for office, and to be able to be the first female Ontario County Court judge. And there’s a portrait of her on the wall and I know that she will be looking down on me when this happens and I hope that she’s proud of me,” Karle told WXXI News.
Karle realizes her election is a milestone in Ontario County, one which she says is an indication there is still more work to do in terms of equal rights issues.
“I’ve practiced a lot of my career in Monroe County, and we have many, many women on the bench in Supreme Court, in County Court, in City Court, so we are long overdue in Ontario County to have a female on the bench in county court.”
Also this past November, voters elected Jackie Sisson-Sherry as Canandaigua’s first female city court judge.
