Public Employee Press

Profile in Public Service
Connie Bajohr
Employee of the year and so much more

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS


When a job needs to get done, give it to a busy person - because busy people accomplish more.

Just ask Local 1070 member Consolata "Connie" Bajohr. In December, the New York State Office of Court Administration honored her as Employee of the Year.

"I love working with the lawyers, prepping for trial, dealing with the phones, assisting callers," said Bajohr, a Secretary to Judge, of her day job. She and Law Clerk Cherise Hewitt-Ogilvie, Court Clerk Cesar Maradigue, and Supreme Court Officer Richard Bowles make up the team that helps Kings County Supreme Court Justice Mark I. Partnow keep his court running smoothly.

At night Bajohr goes home to help her husband rebuild their Seagate, Brooklyn, home that was wrecked by Superstorm Sandy.

Bajohr helped organize the workers in her state court title to join DC 37's Local 1070 in 2011. She was elected to the local Executive Board last spring and serves as a chapter vice chair at the Adams Street courthouse.

Each spring Bajohr organizes a golf fundraiser, and through her church she has taught autistic children how to bowl. "These kids are delighted beyond belief," she said. "I love kids and have experienced great rewards working with them."

Although her family did not have a lot, their generous spirit was contagious. She recalls how her mother "would feed hungry people in their old neighborhood of Red Hook."

Fighter for justice

That outgoing spirit fuels Connie still. "I have added new friends to my old friends by joining the court's Italian-American, Irish and African American clubs, and I have the privilege and honor of being the president of the Amicus Curiae Columbians Association, an Italian-American organization," she said.

Bajohr currently sits on the executive board of Reaching Out Community Services, a Brooklyn food bank, and volunteers at the child abuse unit of the Brooklyn court.

Before working for the court, Bajohr owned a private investigation and security firm, "the first one owned 100 percent by a woman. I employed more than 100 people," she said. In 1993 the federal government appointed her to work on the team that represented Ramsey Yousef in the World Trade Center bombing.

"The scales of justice bring balance to life and have always been important to me," Bajohr said. "Deep down I am a crusader, a fighter for justice for others. My parents taught me to always fight for what I believe in and never accept no for an answer."

Her son, Lt. Paul S. Bajohr, is an instructor at the Court Officers Academy and her grandson, Nicholas, is "the light of my life," she said. "We live by old-fashioned values, and a sense of right and wrong. Family is very important. Your name and your word - that's what you carry."