Lee Kindlon was sworn in Monday as Albany County’s first new District Attorney in a generation.
Dozens of local officials attended the ceremony held at the Harold Joyce Albany County Office Building on State Street.
The Marine Corps Veteran was sworn in by Elizabeth Garry, presiding Justice of the Appellate Division Third Department.
"For those of you celebrating here today, so many of you who are not lawyers, let me share that the DA is vested with great discretion in our law," said Garry. "It is the district attorney who represents all the people in making the hard choices of who to prosecute and with what precise level of crime, what laws apply in complicated and tragic situations. Where there may be an exercise of mercy or leniency, or where the fullest weight of the state must be brought to bear, seeking punishment or retribution for offenses and bad acts. Where rehabilitation efforts may succeed, or where incarceration is the only suitable option and what sentence should be sought upon a conviction."
Kindlon defeated fellow Democrat David Soares in June’s pivotal primary, denying the DA a sixth four-year term. In the November election, Kindlon received 61 percent of the vote, defeating Republican challenger Ralph Ambrosio, who captured 35 percent of the vote.
Kindlon says the office" is now uniquely qualified to take on the challenges ahead” and vows to "set the tone" during his first 100 days.
"We're going to reconstitute and recreate our bureaus to work on the matters most pressing to our communities," Kindlon said. "We will add resources to major crimes to address violent crime, gang violence and the gun problems that plague our streets, we're going to re-establish the financial crimes Bureau to tackle things like wage theft and scams that target our seniors. We're going to lean in on the organized retail Crime Task Force, because we know the large scale retail theft and colony is funding the criminal activity in the city of Albany. Next, I'm going to appoint a chief compliance officer and ethics counsel, fulfilling my campaign promise to bring accountability and transparency to the office. I'm going to work directly with the Comptroller, Susan Rizzo, to fully audit the finances of the office to ensure that your hard earned tax dollars are spent well."
Kindlon plans to expand services and outreach programs, working with everyone from the city of Albany to residents of the county’s remote hilltowns.
“I believe that every young man or young woman with a gun is an extraordinary circumstance, and until the state legislature fixes these broken laws, I will push for as many courtroom solutions as possible, and we will expand our services to those affected by the criminal justice system,” said Kindlon, who has been a local defense attorney and also ran against Soares in 2012. For his part, Soares tells the Times Union he will move his family to Georgia. Kindlon’s pledge to audit the DA’s office came after Soares was heavily criticized for awarding himself a $23,000 bonus from a state grant. He returned the money under pressure before his write-in campaign fell well short in November’s general election.
