Here in New York City, we’re being deluged with direct mail, not only for Mayor (why doesn’t Bloomberg just save his money, since we all know him, and he’s gonna win, anyway?) but for lower offices, such as Comptroller and DA. This diary will be about the candidates for DA.
There are three candidates in the Democratic primary for New York County DA: Cy Vance, Richard Aborn, and Leslie Crocker Snyder. Amazingly, no-one is running on the Republican line.
Cy Vance, the son of the former Secretary of State under Carter, is endorsed by the New York Times, apparently the Daily News (“Vance stands well above his rivals”), and an array of New York City politicos and activists, including Caroline Kennedy, former Mayor David Dinkins, Gloria Steinem, and Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, but probably most importantly, the legendary outgoing DA, Robert Morgenthau, who calls him the “best qualified” for the job.
Richard Aborn, endorsed by Bill Bratton – the former brilliant NYPD Commissioner, hired early in Giuliani’s administration and eventually forced out because his extremely successful crime-fighting ways made him too popular for Giuliani’s liking – and my congressman, Jerry Nadler, among others, is making reforming the Rockefeller Drug Laws (here’s a critical look at them) his main campaign plank. In his direct mail, he calls for:
treat[ing] substance abuse as a public health problem, not just a criminal one[, providing] drug treatment for non-violent offenders who have a substance abuse problem[, and…]providing retroactive sentencing relief to non-violent offenders still incarcerated under obsolete laws[.]
He doesn’t make clear in the mailing or in the relevant section of his website how he would be able to reform laws as New York County DA, but it seems clear that he would use his “judicial discretion to divert non-violent, low-level drug offenders into treatment programs rather than sentencing them to state prison.”
Finally, there is Leslie Crocker Snyder, a former Judge of the New York City Criminal Court (appointed by Mayor Ed Koch and reappointed by David Dinkins) and New York Court of Claims (appointed by Republican Governor George Pataki) and longtime attorney.
Based on her direct mail, her campaign seems to be an attempt at frightening people into voting for her. In 2005, she tried to beat DA Morgenthau by arguing that he was too old and she should replace him almost just because she is younger. It seemed that everyone who knew and worked with him said that he was extremely sharp mentally and worked long hours tirelessly, so Snyder’s strategy backfired, and she was heavily defeated. Now that the position is open, she appears to consider Cy Vance her main opponent, and seems to be once again trying to get in through sleazy methods. She is sending a 4-page direct mail brochure. On the first page, there is an ugly, mirror-image photograph of what is supposed to look like New York in the bad old days. The text on top of the page says as follows (in all caps):
WHEN TIMES WERE TOUGH IN MANHATTAN WHAT DID THE CANDIDATES FOR DISTRICT ATTORNEY DO?
On the second page:
JUDGE LESLIE CROCKER SNYDER STAYED AND FOUGHT TO PROTECT NEW YORKERS
On the third page:
CY VANCE JR. MOVED TO SEATTLE TO MAKE MILLIONS DEFENDING MURDERERS, MOBSTERS AND WHITE-COLLAR CRIMINALS.
The brochure details two of the criminals he defended, as if their crimes reflect badly on him as a defense lawyer. This is demagogic in the extreme. As Vance said to Snyder in an excerpt from a debate that took place on New York 1 TV (I didn’t hear the whole debate):
I believe that everybody in this country deserves the right to a fair trial, particularly those who are presupposed guilty like the individual in the Sudafed case. I took on that case in a court-appointed capacity. I believe that is the job of a defense lawyer to protect people and to make sure the government proves its case. Now if you believe otherwise, you shouldn’t be running for this job.
My inclination is to vote for Aborn, based on his strong position on the drug laws, which have caused almost incalculable waste in money and human lives, but if I find out that this is really a two-person race between the other candidates, I will vote for Vance without hesitation in order to keep Crocker Snyder out.
I’d welcome your opinions about this race, and any polling data you may have come across.
Vance is who will get my vote and Crocker Snyder is not good people. She comes across much like Jeanine Pirro and Giuliani: fear-mongers that appeal to our worse angels in order to try to get elected.
Crocker Snyder really sounds like a terrible human being. It’s those kinds of candidates that are the worst, the ones who demagogue on fear. She should cut the BS and run as a Republican.
Aborn and Vance both sound like decent guys.
Each of the boroughs elect their own district attorney. In this case, the race is for Manhattan (aka New York County).
There are other races for Brooklyn (Kings County), Queens, Staten Island (Richmond County) and the Bronx.
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Personally if I were still a New York voter, I don’t know whether I would vote for Aborn or Vance. Aborn’s list of endorsers is impressive enough to suggest he is a significant and viable candidate — 2 members of Congress, 5 Manhattan Senators, 7 Assembly members, 3 city council members, Bill Bratton and a reasonably large list of Democratic clubs and progressive organizations.
http://www.abornforda.com/inde…
Still, while my person politics are very much more in tune with Aborn, I agree with your assessment that if it is a two person race, Cy Vance is very much preferable to Crocker Snyder. Vance clearly is the “establishment” liberal in the race, and it may be that the NYT, Morgenthau, Dinkins and other endorsements is enough to squeeze Aborn out and make it essentially a 2 way race.
My gut says that the right thing to do is vote for whichever candidate has the best chance of beating Crocker Snyder — and barring a poll before the primary, my sense of the race is that is probably Vance. (Another good argument for instant run-off voting, isn’t it?)
In terms of mudslinging this might be a two way race, but everything I’m seeing suggests Aborn has by far the superior ground operation.
A former colleague of mine is running Cy Vance’s race and still the only volunteer calls or emails I’ve gotten have been for Aborn’s campaign. And I probably get 2 to 3 appeals a day. I run a community organizing project, and they’ve seen Aborn’s volunteers and troops all over the doors of Manhattan. We’ve still never seen either Cy or Leslie. The three candidates are neck in neck in money on hand. But the doorknocking, phonebanking, and sheer grassroots enthusiasm for Aborn is a true phenomenon.
NY politics are still a very retail sport, and outside of folks like us, frankly, none of these folks have much voter name recognition.
This race will be decided by the field operation–the clubs—almost all of whom are with Aborn, the volunteers, the phone calls, and the street presence on election day.
Aborn is head and shoulders above the rest on this measure. And his supporters are certainly the most motivated.
I’m reluctant to draw this parallel, but I can’t help but think in this campaign Cy is Hillary, Leslie, McCain, and Aborn is Obama. We saw how that played out last time.
I’m shocked by these comments about Leslie Crocker Snyder. She has done so much groundbreaking work in the criminal justice system, including authoring the Rape Shield Law, establishing the first Sex Crimes Unit in the country, and putting away the worst drug gangs and murderers during the 80s and 90s.
True, she isn’t backed by the establishment. But what has Vance or Aborn done for New York? Why is it wrong to point out that Vance hasn’t lived in NYC for 18 years when Snyder (and Aborn) were here and Snyder did something to make New York better.
And for the record, Leslie has been talking about Rock Reform for over ten years and as a judge actually used alternatives to incarceration for young, non-violent offenders even without these reforms.
What I’ve seen on the ground in the last few months and especially the last few weeks is a huge swell of grassroots support for Richard Aborn, with focus, commitment, organization, and purpose behind it. Take heart, this is not a two-person race; all the energy, chatter, and momentum I’m looking at is for Aborn, who should be the next D.A. of Manhattan, and will be.
My vote is for Aborn. The other two candidates are so focused on fighting each other which is such a huge turn off. Do we need people who are more interested in such petty, vindictive and negative behavior? That says a lot to me about how they’ll be as a DA and I don’t like what it says.
Meanwhile Aborn has stayed above the fray and discussed solely what he will do to reform the office and how he will handle the various issues. I trust him and the fact that he’s gotten the majority of endorsements should say those who really know what goes on in politics do too and are willing and want to work with him. He also has a huge grassroots support, which is vitally important in this race.
He can and will win this race, mark my words.
Did Cyrus Vance really defend corporate criminals? If he did, I couldn’t vote for him period. If he defended one or two who were potentially innocent, that’s one thing, but if he defended many like Bernie Madoff, I just can’t vote for people who defend that kind of scum.
I can see reasoning for defending accused murderers, some are truly innocent, there is racial bias etc. But corporate criminals are the bloodsucking leeches that brought the world’s financial system to its knees and are traitors to this nation, IMO.
If Vance did what Crocker Snyder is accusing him of, regarding corporate criminals, then Aborn should get the vote.
He’s more like Obama. He restrains from exposing Snyder’s lies and attacking her personally. Snyder is a complete nutcase indeed. As for Aborn, he’s focused only on gun control, and there are far more many issues in Manhattan than that. Cy Vance will be an awesome DA.
he was acting as plaintiff’s attorney a lot too and being very successful about it. He practically defended when the court told him to..