The face-off between first-term incumbent Andrea Harrington and challenger Timothy Shugrue presented by the Berkshire Democratic Brigades took place Tuesday in a tent on the lawn of the Mount, the historic estate of author Edith Wharton.
Shugrue has framed Harrington as inexperienced and incompetent.
“There have been too many shootings in our county in the last several months," he said. "And in fact, there've been many illegal possessed guns on the street is a major factor to these problems. These cases should not be reduced from felonies to misdemeanors, and plea bargained away to non-jail sentences. I intend to prosecute these cases vigorously and to seek the appropriate sentences when I think such a sentence was necessary to protect the public.”
Harrington, who ran on a progressive reform platform in 2018, says she’s brought the work of the Berkshire DA’s office up to modern standards.
“We have educated this county about harm reduction as a real answer, evidence-based answer to the opioid epidemic that has been plaguing our community and has taken too many lives," said the DA. "We have worked to build trust and faith in the criminal legal system by making sure that the community understands the policies that the district attorney's office implements in ensuring that we get fair convictions. We've implemented a Brady List to ensure that the evidence that we're presenting is credible and unbiased. We have implemented open discovery policies.”
She accused Shugrue of fearmongering, citing recently released Pittsfield Police Department data showing an aggregate 37% drop in total crimes committed in the Berkshires’ largest community over the past five years.
“The fact of the matter is, crime rates have been going down in Berkshire County," said Harrington. "The charges in Central Berkshire district court have been going down. PPD arrests have been going down. Property crimes have been going down. And yes, like other communities, we see an increase in shootings, which is very concerning. But this community deserves a fair discussion based on facts and evidence of these important issues that are, we all need to work together to solve. Fear mongering is not going to help us make our community safer.”
Over the course of the campaign, Shugrue has attempted to present an image of a compassionate prosecutor while simultaneously being tougher on crime than Harrington.
“28 years I've been defending people. I've represented all sorts of people of different backgrounds: people of color, people of different, have a different gender issues, people with all different sexuality, and the bias and the prejudices that I've seen on a day-to-day basis, it's real," said Shugrue. "I've seen it. We need criminal justice reform, we do. But we need progress with it. So just kicking the can down the road isn't the answer. We need to help people that are in that system, to help them out. At the same time, we need tough prosecution. What's ruining our neighborhoods, what I'm talking about, these are marginalized communities that, their neighborhoods are being ruined. That's where these gun charges are. That's what's happening. These are people that need our help. You want to talk about what I'm doing right for the community, what I'm doing right for marginalized individuals, what I'm doing for people of color- Why don't we prosecute the crimes that are taking place in their neighborhoods?”
Despite denying Harrington’s charges of fear mongering, Shugrue’s messaging still centered around anecdotal accounts of a community living in fear, a tactic similar to the one he campaigned on in 2004 against then-DA David Capeless. While campaigning on restoring the bond between county law enforcement agencies and the DA’s office, the Pittsfield-based attorney actively sewed doubt in the data presented by those very agencies.
“When we're dealing with people that are stealing from merchants, it's a problem," said Shugrue. "Let's find out what's the root problem, why are you stealing, and if there's a drug problem, let's help that drug issue out. But in the meantime, crime rate, I don't care if you say the crime rate's gone down, no, the prosecution of crime has gone down. The crime rate has not gone down. You ask anybody who lives in this county, you ask anybody who lives in Pittsfield, everybody's afraid to go out. You ask the merchants on North Street whether they feel safe with people that are running on North Street, running around and causing them problems, you ask the people there. That's why I'm running for office, because we do not have a safe community right now.”
Harrington said that Shugrue’s plans are regressive, and that he had misrepresented his work with marginalized communities as a defense lawyer.
“The kinds of policies that my proponent is advocating to address the problem of opioid addiction, mental health issues, poverty, will be absolutely devastating and totally counterproductive for poor people who are struggling with these issues here in our community," said Harrington. "My opponent is not appointed by the Committee of Public Council Services to take indigent cases. He represents people in divorces and he represents people who can afford to hire him. He has never had a dangerousness hearing with my office. He doesn't represent people that are being held as a danger. And yet he wants to talk about how my office is mishandling these cases. This idea that my office is not following the law is just completely false. And it's totally, it has no basis in reality.”
You can hear the full debate here:
Early voting is under way in the September 6th primary.
