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Manhattan District Attorney Candidates Spar In First Televised Debate
GothamistEight candidates vying for the post of Manhattan District Attorney sparred in their first televised debate on Tuesday, offering voters the sharpest contrast to date between the candidates emphasizing decarceration and those who would bring a more centrist approach to one of the top law enforcement offices in the country.
As the city grapples with a disturbing spike in shootings and hate crimes, as well as pressure to take more strides towards criminal justice reform, Manhattan voters have a lot to consider before early voting begins on June 12th. Eight candidates will be on the ballot for the Democratic nomination in the following order: Diana Florence, Eliza Orlins, Elizabeth Crotty, Tali Farhadian Weinstein, Dan Quart, Tahanie Aboushi, Alvin Bragg and Lucy Lang.
The candidates, whose previous interactions have been largely limited to online Zoom forums with no opportunity to speak to one another, wasted no time going on the offensive at the debate, with former federal prosecutor Tali Farhadian Weinstein taking a swing at Alvin Bragg, another former federal prosecutor. Bragg, who’s received the backing of his old boss Preet Bharara, former U.S. Attorney for New York’s Southern District, said he’d only prosecuted one misdemeanor — a case where men were blocking people from going into a Planned Parenthood.
“I think it’s very weird to say that you should run this office because you’ve only ever prosecuted one misdemeanor,” Farhadian Weinstein said. She is running a more centrist campaign, emphasizing gun prosecutions and a clamp down on gender-based violence, and has the backing of Eric Holder, who led the Justice Department under President Barack Obama. “Strangling your wife is a misdemeanor. Breaking into a synagogue and vandalizing is a misdemeanor.”
That tension emerged again and again over the course of the evening, particularly around issues of hate crimes and gun violence. Liz Crotty, a criminal defense attorney who worked for former Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, is the most conservative candidate running as a Democrat, and the only person not describing herself as a progressive. When asked how she thought cases of illegal gun possession should be answered, she answered flat out, “You should be afraid that if you are doing so, you will be going to jail."
As the city grapples with a disturbing spike in shootings and hate crimes, as well as pressure to take more strides towards criminal justice reform, Manhattan voters have a lot to consider before early voting begins on June 12th. Eight candidates will be on the ballot for the Democratic nomination in the following order: Diana Florence, Eliza Orlins, Elizabeth Crotty, Tali Farhadian Weinstein, Dan Quart, Tahanie Aboushi, Alvin Bragg and Lucy Lang.
The candidates, whose previous interactions have been largely limited to online Zoom forums with no opportunity to speak to one another, wasted no time going on the offensive at the debate, with former federal prosecutor Tali Farhadian Weinstein taking a swing at Alvin Bragg, another former federal prosecutor. Bragg, who’s received the backing of his old boss Preet Bharara, former U.S. Attorney for New York’s Southern District, said he’d only prosecuted one misdemeanor — a case where men were blocking people from going into a Planned Parenthood.
“I think it’s very weird to say that you should run this office because you’ve only ever prosecuted one misdemeanor,” Farhadian Weinstein said. She is running a more centrist campaign, emphasizing gun prosecutions and a clamp down on gender-based violence, and has the backing of Eric Holder, who led the Justice Department under President Barack Obama. “Strangling your wife is a misdemeanor. Breaking into a synagogue and vandalizing is a misdemeanor.”
That tension emerged again and again over the course of the evening, particularly around issues of hate crimes and gun violence. Liz Crotty, a criminal defense attorney who worked for former Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, is the most conservative candidate running as a Democrat, and the only person not describing herself as a progressive. When asked how she thought cases of illegal gun possession should be answered, she answered flat out, “You should be afraid that if you are doing so, you will be going to jail."