MONTICELLO — The Sullivan County Family Court Support Group organized a protest outside the Government Center on Wednesday morning to express their frustrations with County Court Judge Michael McGuire, who the Legislature recently voted to hire as the County Attorney.

“We're here to protest Judge McGuire as County Attorney because there are too many misconduct claims against him,” said Cliff Erickson, founder of the support group.

The New York State Court of Appeals ordered McGuire suspended from the bench with pay last week after a recommendation by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct stated he be removed from the bench for a list of instances of misconduct that took place from 2011-2015.

The Sullivan County Legislature appointed McGuire as County Attorney in February to start on April 20 for a term of four years. That was then pushed back to May 4, and now, according to County Communications Director Dan Hust, McGuire has not yet started his official duties with the county due to personal reasons.

There is not a firm start date at this time, and as previously reported in the Democrat, Hust said McGuire has no intention of collecting a salary from the state and from the county simultaneously.

It appears that some county legislators are holding fast to their appointment of McGuire and it will go forward. At the last two legislature meetings, there were multiple public comments objecting to McGuire's appointment.

The families are calling on the county to remove McGuire from the County Attorney position. An online petition has already been started and has collected over 200 signatures.

On Wednesday, a small gathering of mothers who appeared before Judge McGuire in Family Court stood outside the Government Center with signs. They wore masks and stood six feet apart.

One mom, Christine Motta, said her son was bullied at Eldred Junior-Senior High School and the school's administration was negligent in stopping the bullying. She said McGuire ordered a psychological evaluation and took her 15-year-old son out of court in handcuffs and sent him to a juvenile psychiatric center for 30 days.

Christine's daughter Jeannette Gonzalez, who was at the protest, said she was there to support her mother.

“What happened to my brother where he was taken away at the hands of McGuire, my mother was stripped of her parental rights in an unfair case over logistical things… I'm here for something that was unjust,” she said.

She continued, “Families shouldn't be separated and torn apart, and people have to spend thousands and thousands [of dollars] on legal bills when they didn't do anything wrong.”

McGuire had not returned a request for comment by press time yesterday.