Albany County District Attorney David Soares used a campaign rally Monday to rail against criminal justice reforms he says have made Albany more dangerous.
Soares, running for a sixth four-year term, spoke at Tricentennial Square on Broadway. "I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we are here in the city of Albany against the backdrop in the theater of violence," said Soares.
The rally came days after Mayor Kathy Sheehan endorsed Soares’ challenger Lee Kindlon, who lost to Soares in 2012, in June 25th’s Democratic primary. Kindlon entered the race after Soares lost the support of county Democrats for using a grant to give himself a $23,000 bonus. He later returned the funds under pressure. Soares says the campaign is a bellwether.
"The race for Albany County District Attorney is a race that was designed to shut me up. All of my comments about my own party's designs that reform has earned me a primary. And I'm thankful. Because this primary gives me the opportunity to speak loudly and clearly to the people here in Albany County. This race is more than just about me. This race is about the future of public safety policy in the state of New York," Soares said.
Retired from the State Police, Cohoes Mayor Bill Keeler supports Soares. "David Soares has been a very effective district attorney. And I think this selection, this primary is really important because you see the DA’s offices from Manhattan to Los Angeles, where the district attorneys act as defense attorneys, and we don't need that in Albany County,” said Keeler.
Soares touted the backing of Teamsters Local 294, Council 82, NYSCOPBA and other law enforcement entities. "And I want to make it perfectly clear. The Albany police department is in support of my candidacy. They are here today, unlike their mayor,” said Soares, who blasted Sheehan, who also endorsed Soares’ opponent four years ago.
"We have a mayor that for her own political branding, is in favor of all of these reforms, but doesn't speak to the realities of what these reforms bring, as evidenced by the fact that she will have press conferences after homicide after homicide," Soares said. "And she will attempt to create an illusion as to what just happened. It's a homicide. The fact that the parties are known to each other doesn't make it any less of a homicide, the proliferation of illegal guns on the streets, and some of her policies that prevent law enforcement from being proactive, because we don't want to stain the mayor's political brand. So the only thing that I would ask this mayor to do from this point on, regardless of our political intentions, is just not do anything else to further jeopardize what we've built in the city before she came into office. Just don't do anything else."
Last week Sheehan stood beside Kindlon outside City Hall, criticizing Soares' lack of transparency in failing to file campaign disclosure forms in this election and in the past. Soares returned fire, dismissing the accusations.
"Before my opponent decides on issues of transparency, he should probably start disclosing whether or not he ever repaid the monies that he had taken from the county when he was double booking, double dipping in the salaries," Soares said. "He should also probably disclose where his money came from when he defended an individual who responsible for the death of 20 plus people."
Soares there referring to the trial of Nauman Hussain, the operator of the limo company involved in the 2018 Schoharie crash that killed 20 people, who was sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison.
Kindlon responded to Soares' allegations. "The county did a full investigation into my work as a part-time conflict offender more than a decade ago. And it turned out that the county actually owed me money. I don't think that that's an issue at all. Now to answer a second question, the reality is, I never got paid. I did the trial, and I never got paid," Kindlon said.
Sheehan’s chief of staff, David Galin says that crime across the city is broadly down while gun arrests and illegal gun recoveries are up. He noted that the Albany Police Department's homicide closure rate far exceeds the national average, adding that Sheehan isn’t running for DA but is committed to providing the police department with the tools it needs to arrest criminals.
