Sunday, October 30, 2011

DA Rich McNally picks up TU endorsement

Here is what the Times Union has to say about DA Rich McNally's bid for re-election:

Four years ago, Rensselaer County District Attorney Richard McNally Jr. took over an office plagued with a backlog of cases and an image problem. It needed, as he puts it, a “sea change.”

Mr. McNally, a Democrat, has taken steps to do just that. He deserves another term to keep getting the job done.

His Republican opponent, Joel Abelov, a former assistant district attorney, claims he can do better. He says the conviction rate is too low and questions the changes Mr. McNally has made.

Among their more substantive differences, Mr. Abelov disagrees with Mr. McNally’s willingness to plea bargain many felony cases down to misdemeanors. Mr. Abelove’s hard-line position makes for a good muscular law-and-order message, but doesn’t reflect the job’s reality. Plea bargaining is a common and necessary practice in our justice system.

Without pleas, courts would be clogged, cases would sometimes go to trial with insufficient evidence and the valuable work prosecutors do in sorting criminals from those who might deserve a break would be lost. Prosecutors would be unable to focus their limited resources on the cases that matter most.

Mr. McNally’s approach has helped cut a case backlog in half. And, he requires that every plea bargain that involves a conviction include a DNA sample, which can be checked against unsolved crimes.

He has also taken a smarter, more compassionate approach in domestic violence cases, striving to keep victims out of court when possible.

Mr. McNally has taken a more enlightened yet practical approach to managing the office, too. He stripped away remnants of a caste system that had various bureau chiefs doing varying degrees of work and which relegated women to one large office while men had offices of their own. Mr. Abelove faults him for eliminating chiefs; we believe it reflects the realities of running an office in tight fiscal times.

We are also concerned that Mr. Abelove spent much of his career under Mr. McNally’s predecessors, Patricia DeAngelis, whose re-election prospects were so dismal she didn’t seek another term, and Ken Bruno, who publicly said the six-figure salary wasn’t good enough. It’s telling that Mr. Abelove faults Mr. McNally for the cost of using special prosecutors to appropriately remove himself from cases involving other Democrats, yet finds no fault with Ms. DeAngelis, a Republican who apparently saw no conflict in seeking to prosecute the county’s Democratic chairman.

While we can’t expect conflicts to never arise, we can expect public officials, especially those with the power of a district attorney, to see them when they do.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Guest Post - Progress in the Town of Nassau

by Nassau Town Chairman Mark Berger 

For the last six years, Democrats have contributed greatly to Nassau. With Ray Seney leading, he and Michael Roland and Sue Hains spurred the development of the comprehensive plan and updated zoning laws, initiated open government policies, took the junk yard to court and won, helped move the cleanup of the Dewey Loeffel Toxic Waste Site from the DEC to the EPA, worked with CEO to bring a comprehensive day care center to our area, oversaw the budget, and opened town government to all civic minded individuals.

Democrats and independents came forward and joined with Republicans to create and serve on the Natural Resources Committee, the Comprehensive Planning and Zoning Committee, the Website and Broadband Committee and presently many of those citizens still serve on these committees as well as the Zoning Board and Planning Board.

If you want this forward thinking representation to continue, electing our candidates is essential. Ray Seney has given his all to our town -- first as Supervisor and now as Councilman; he comes to meetings prepared and asks the questions that need to be asked. Ray is running for re-election, we have to keep him on the Town Council.

Guy Forte has stepped forward and is wants to move ahead with the initiatives outlined in the 2011 Comprehensive Plan and to work with both the Town and the Village of Nassau to figure out ways that mutual cooperation will work to save money and still provide quality services for all townspeople. Let’s get Guy elected to the board.

Along with Donna Ortgies, our town clerk candidates, and Marcelle Gadreault, our candidate for tax collector, all of our candidates are completely independent. They have no other overlapping loyalties. Decisions of our office holders are theirs alone. They are seeking office in order to serve the town and for no other reason.

Remind your friends that on Tuesday, November 8, the future of Nassau will be decided. The progress we have made is because we have had our candidates serve on the Town Council. A five-to-nothing Republican Town Council will be at best a status quo council.

We need your support. Send us a contribution. Help us stuff envelopes. Anything you do, allows us to do more.

Thanks for listening,

Mark

Town of Nassau Democratic Committee, PO Box 237, East Nassau, 12062: Where your donations lead to good government.