Robert G. Main Jr.

MALONE — Franklin County Judge Robert G. Main Jr. has announced he will seek a fourth 10-year term in office.

Main, who lives in Malone, plans to file designating petitions with the county Board of Elections in July so he can get on the November ballot, according to a press release from him.

Main was first elected in 1987 as the candidate of the Republican and Conservative parties. He won re-election in 1997 as the Republican, Democratic and Conservative candidate. The judge was elected to his third term in 2007 without opposition.

In addition to his duties as county judge, Main also is the county’s Surrogate Court judge and an acting Family Court judge. Designated as an acting justice of the Supreme Court for more than 20 years, he presides over the Integrated Domestic Violence part of that court and has presided over hundreds of matrimonial actions.

“In our county, the county judge has an enormous variety of work, a variety that very few judges in this state share,” Main said in the release. “Until recently, our relatively small size entitled us to a single county level judge, so I sat in all of the courts rather than sitting in just one court as most judges do.”

The creation of a separately elected Family Court judge position, now held by Derek Champagne, has eased the burden, Main said, although he continues to preside in Family Court routinely, particularly when Champagne is assigned to St. Lawrence County court.

During Main is second term, he said he laid the local groundwork for and established two treatment courts: the adult treatment part of Supreme Court and the family treatment part of the Family Court. Designed to promote treatment and sobriety, the courts bring addicted defendants and respondents before the court in a phased program that blends substance abuse and mental health therapy with personal accountability and the traditional coercive tools of the criminal justice system. Main said both courts have successfully graduated participants.

“Working in the treatment courts has been one of the most instructive and rewarding experiences of my judicial career,” he said. “While no program of this nature will ever be 100 percent successful, it is obvious that we are making a positive contribution to the lives of our participants and helping to promote public safety by breaking the connection between substance abuse, addiction, and criminal behavior.”

Main said the volume of cases in the courts has grown since he first took office.

“Despite this expansive growth in volume, we conduct the judicial business of the county with essentially the same-sized staff that I had 30 years ago until the recent creation of the new Family Court Judge position,” he said. “This is a testament to the hard work of these experienced and dedicated public servants.”

In addition to his regular judicial duties, Judge Main spearheaded the effort to provide the county court system with adequate and functional space in the county courthouse. He also said he’s proud of the renovations made to the main courtroom, which largely restored the space to its original design and decor.

Born in 1951 in Malone, Main is the son of the late Supreme Court Justice Robert G. Main Sr. and Ann Manson Main. He graduated from Franklin Academy in Malone, received his A.B. degree from Middlebury College with a major in political science and obtained his Juris Doctor degree from the Albany Law School of Union University. Following his admission to the state and federal bars in 1977, he was associated with the law firm of Mullarney & Holland in Malone. In 1980, he became a principal in the firm of Holland & Main P.C. where he practiced until assuming the bench in 1988.

For many years Main served as a member of the Law Guardian Advisory Committee of the Appellate Division, Third Department. He currently serves as a member of the curriculum committee for the continuing education of Family Court Judges. He is a member of the Tribal Courts Committee and is a co-chair of its Native American Bail Review Project.

Main has been a member of the Franklin County Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association. He’s also a member of New York State Surrogates, County Judges, Family Court Judges, and Acting Supreme Court Justices associations.

Main is a trustee of the Alice Hyde Medical Center, where he previously served as counsel and board chair. He served for 20 years as the president of the Farrar Home, an assisted living facility in Malone. Currently he is a member of the Academic Board of Trustees of Franklin Academy, chairing its scholarship committee, and a trustee of Morningside Cemetery. A communicant of St. Andre Bessette Roman Catholic Parish in Malone, he is a commissioned lay minister, lector and eucharistic minister. He has served as a parish trustee and twice on the parish counsel. He is a former member of the pastoral council of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg and its long-range planning committee.