Except for one light-natured question about bicycle theft, the debate between the two candidates for the office of Albany County District Attorney was no laughing matter.
Incumbent Albany County District Attorney David Soares traded barbs with second-time challenger Roger Cusick at their alma mater, Albany Law School, on Tuesday, Oct. 7. Each was given a two-minute opening and closing statement and answered a number of questions ranging from their views on the office of district attorney and how crime should be prosecuted to what they would do in office and what their relationship would be with fellow law enforcement agencies and the community.
Both men presented very different philosophical approaches to how they would be the county’s top prosecutor and adamantly disagreed on the fundamental statistical issue of whether crime was up or down in Albany County.
Soares maintains the county is experiencing a 20-year low in crime, while Cusick scoffed at this notion during the debate, saying crime is not down by any means and calling Soares `a complete failure` as district attorney.
`We need a prosecutor in this county, not traveling all over the country,` Cusick said, mentioning Soares’ high-profile steroids case in Florida and frequent visits to other municipalities around the nation and in Canada. `Who’s doing the prosecuting? Someone’s got to be back in the office prosecuting cases Mr. Soares has developed a reputation of seeking headlines over safety.`
Soares fired back over the Loudonville native’s assertion that crime is up and questioned Cusick’s knowledge of inner-city Albany crime, asking Cusick, `What streets would those be, sir? Do you know them?`
He questioned Cusick’s statistics like he questioned the findings of an audit by Albany County comptroller Michael Conners that accuses Soares of poor accounting practices and misplacing drug money.
`I think you may have had the Albany County comptroller help you sift through those numbers, because I take issues with those numbers, like I took issues with his,` Soares said.
`Crime is down,` Soares reiterated. `The Dana Avenue and Park South community is better today than it was four years ago.`
Soares added that arrests and prosecutions are down because crime is down. He also responded to Cusick’s charge that 322 accused felons were released from Albany County jail because Soares failed to indict them get them to a grand jury, by issuing a statement that said 548 such instances had happened under the watch of his predecessor, former District Attorney Paul Clyne.
`This feels like dEja vu all over again,` Soares said. `I feel like his [Cusick] body’s been taken over by Paul Clyne because I feel like I’m debating Paul Clyne all over again.`
Labeling himself as Albany outsider, Cusick cited Conners’ audit several times during the debate and called Soares `the laughing stock of tabloids around the state.`
Cusick accused Soares of using his office to grandstand his political agenda and to seek national coverage when he went `with a Times Union reporter and photographer` to prosecute crime in Florida `at the expense of Albany County,` but quietly ushered disgraced former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi in and out of court out of the public’s eye.
`And what about the handling of Troopergate and our illustrious former governor, Eliot Spitzer?` Cusick asked at the debate, insinuating Soares protected the former governor until Spitzer’s sex scandal was brought to light and public opinion turned against him.
When asked about how they viewed the office of district attorney, Soares said he had a more philosophical `proactive` approach to curbing crime while Cusick said he would strictly prosecute the `laws on the books` instead of `lobbying the legislature` to change or create the law.
`He’s running for the wrong office, just like he ran for the wrong office in 2004,` Cusick said of Soares, adding that he should have ran for governor or the legislature. `I leave those things to greater minds than my own.`
Cusick said that Clyne had an 82.9 conviction rate, while Soares only had a 77.8 percent conviction rate.
Another difference between the two came when Cusick announced he would never use plea bargaining for violent crimes involving guns, while Soares said it was a necessary tool and that if the county had a weak case, it would be better to take a criminal off the streets for a short period of time rather than none.
Cusick also accused Soares of writing a $1,000 check to himself from his office as well as using his office’s funds to throw parties and pay parking tickets.
`Is this a man running a DA’s office or a man running a slush fund?` Cusick asked. As for Conner’s audit, Cusick charged that the state’s attorney general or the inspector general needed to step in and look into the matter.
Soares once again fired back, saying he would use money seized from drug dealers and other criminal to combat Albany County crime. `You can tell Mike Conners I will continue to use gamblers and drug dealers money, ` he said.
Cusick cited Soares lack of cooperation with local law enforcement and criticisms of police agencies as the reason for he’s picked up powerful endorsements from CSEA, AFSCME and Council 82, the parent union of several area police departments.
Soares is running for re-election as a first-term Democratic incumbent, but this time Cusick is running on the `Integrity Party` line, a party seemingly created specifically for this race by the GOP. Cusick ran as a Republican against Soares and former district attorney Clyne in 2004. In a rare Albany County upset, Soares beat Clyne ` his former boss ` in the Democratic primary that year and went on to win the general election against Cusick and Clyne, who ran on the Independence line after losing the primary.
The Albany Law debate is expected to be the only public debate between the two candidates. The Albany Law Civil Liberties Union, Albany Law Black Law Students Association, New York Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP and the League of Women Voters sponsored the debate. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4.“