Knowing only too well that somebody is going to get elected District Attorney in Nassau County, New York, it was difficult to write that neither candidate, Kathleen Rice nor Joy Watson, had made an affirmative case for why she was the one. Rice’s problem was that she staked out the avenging angel position, while Watson had no positions at all.
That changed last night, when Joy Watson sent out an 11th hour press release with a 14 point plan:
A quick perusal of the 14 point plan, perhaps an homage to Woodrow Wilson, suggests some good points and some less than good points. But here’s the problem: it’s too late. To dredge up the old platitude, better late than never, is disingenuous. Not only is this a mere laundry list, decidedly lacking in the critical detail to make Watson’s plan meaningful and comprehensible, but it raises a ton of questions upon which hinges the determination of whether she’s got good ideas or not.
When are the voters supposed to find out what she’s got in mind?
While it may well be that the absence of any positions throughout her campaign was never recognized until some blawger pointed it out, and that she’s scraped together her views as quickly as possible, realizing the void in her campaign was a bit of a problem. But that in itself suggests that she was either not sufficiently serious in her run for office to think ahead, or that she’s so politically naive as to not notice that she was running on empty.
Some may suggest that this glaring fault is attributable to her campaign staff, noting that local district attorney races don’t involve large, professional campaign staff at the candidates beck and call. This is nonsense. She is the candidate. She is the one who wants the vote. She is the one who claims worthiness to hold a position of great importance. She is responsible for her failure to timely state her position on what she would do if she was elected to the office of District Attorney. Joy Watson, alone, is responsible for Joy Watson.
To her credit, Watson has finally done something, albeit too little too late. Still, it’s something. Perhaps voters will read her list and find something on it that sufficiently captures their interest to justify pulling the little lever next to her name. But for my purposes, and in the glaring absence of far more substantive information and explanation of what exactly these 14 points are supposed to mean, it falls far short of changing my position on endorsement.
“Better late than never” really isn’t the way to run for office. And last minute disclosure isn’t a characteristic I admire in a District Attorney.
That changed last night, when Joy Watson sent out an 11th hour press release with a 14 point plan:
1. Videotape all violent crime interrogations, especially those most difficult to prove, sex crimes.Mind you, the election is scheduled for November 3. This year. As in next week, and a candidate for the office of District Attorney finally woke up and decided that she’s got a plan.
2. Establish Forensic/DNA Evidence Bureau – bolstering violent and nonviolent prosecutions while exonerating the innocent.
3. Devote greater resources to Internet Predator prosecutions, including greater coordination with State Police and putting community safety first in sting operations.
4. Create separate Gang and Narcotics Bureaus to address the ever-increasing problems with drugs and gangs in our communities.
5. Increase successful gang prosecutions, implement stronger witness protection, interview witnesses in an off site location and instill confidence in witnesses that the criminals they testify against will receive lengthy prison terms.
6. Utilize forfeiture funds to staff probation department personnel to monitor sex offenders on a 24/7 basis.
7. Relocate Special Victims Bureau to avoid contact and possible confrontation with their attackers.
8. Improve transparency by annually posting all specific Office disposition statistics. This information is available internally and should be reported to the public through the Office’s website.
9. Recruit and promote a diversified ADA force to reflect the new demographics of Nassau County.
10. Save tax dollars and eliminate duplication of efforts by eliminating ECAB (Early Case Assessment Bureau), work which can be effectively handled by the Police Department and by restructuring the work of DA Investigators.
11. Re-establish cooperation with all branches of law enforcement, including Detectives, Probation Department, and state and local police forces.
12. Enforce Nassau Residency Requirement to ensure that members of the DA’s office have a stake in the community and contribute to Nassau’s economic health.
13. Eliminate political appointees to the DA’s Office.
14. Pursue a County and New York State Legislative Agenda that includes installing GPS devices to track domestic violence offenders with orders of protection and ignition interlock devices on all motor vehicles across the county.
A quick perusal of the 14 point plan, perhaps an homage to Woodrow Wilson, suggests some good points and some less than good points. But here’s the problem: it’s too late. To dredge up the old platitude, better late than never, is disingenuous. Not only is this a mere laundry list, decidedly lacking in the critical detail to make Watson’s plan meaningful and comprehensible, but it raises a ton of questions upon which hinges the determination of whether she’s got good ideas or not.
When are the voters supposed to find out what she’s got in mind?
While it may well be that the absence of any positions throughout her campaign was never recognized until some blawger pointed it out, and that she’s scraped together her views as quickly as possible, realizing the void in her campaign was a bit of a problem. But that in itself suggests that she was either not sufficiently serious in her run for office to think ahead, or that she’s so politically naive as to not notice that she was running on empty.
Some may suggest that this glaring fault is attributable to her campaign staff, noting that local district attorney races don’t involve large, professional campaign staff at the candidates beck and call. This is nonsense. She is the candidate. She is the one who wants the vote. She is the one who claims worthiness to hold a position of great importance. She is responsible for her failure to timely state her position on what she would do if she was elected to the office of District Attorney. Joy Watson, alone, is responsible for Joy Watson.
To her credit, Watson has finally done something, albeit too little too late. Still, it’s something. Perhaps voters will read her list and find something on it that sufficiently captures their interest to justify pulling the little lever next to her name. But for my purposes, and in the glaring absence of far more substantive information and explanation of what exactly these 14 points are supposed to mean, it falls far short of changing my position on endorsement.
“Better late than never” really isn’t the way to run for office. And last minute disclosure isn’t a characteristic I admire in a District Attorney.
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One particular item on her list caught my eye- eliminate ecab to “save tax dollars.” Very bad idea, and perhaps disingenuous. Police officer on overtime drafting accusatory instruments (often incorrectly) vs. ADA on salary does not result in saving tax dollars. It increases tax dollars spent because its more expensive in the first place. And, when an ADA is stuck with an improperly drafted charge, he or she needs to call the police officers back into the office, usually on overtime, to re-draft the thing. On top of that, cops writing up crappy charges results in defendants having dispositions crammed won their throats, as once an ADA gets a file, statistics come in to play. Does the police officer writing up the charge care about the DA’s statistics? No. Does he care that some guy might have to take a violation or an ACD when he really should just get an apology and a ride home? Usually not. I hope this is just a bad idea, and not a disguised attempt to throw a piece of the pie back to the police department.
That said, I think JW would be way better than KR, mostly because she seems to lack the political ambition of KR.
The elimination of ECAB was one that caught my eye as well as a particularly terrible idea. The problem with parsing it based upon this press release is that there may be a good reason, something that I’m unaware of, to explain why she would do something that, in my view now, seems like a terrible idea. But how would I know?
5 more days of press releases maybe?
As you point out, this is just speculation, but it may be as simple as Dillon had no ECAB bureau, Rice started it, ergo, no more ECAB. But a broken clock is right twice a day.
Yeah, odd about that, isn’t it. And note the requirement for ADAs to live in Nassau County as well. I think your speculation may be right on target.
The explanation for the residency requirement gave me a good chuckle. ADA’s need to live in Nassau so that they can contribute to Nassau’s economic health. First you have to pay them a wage that might give them some disposable income. There’s no housing in nassau for young professionals. This is a joke.