In the race for Albany County District Attorney, The Post endorses incumbent DA David Soares as a voice of reason.
Twenty years ago, Soares, then a Soros-backed progressive, ran for district attorney as a reformer denouncing the tough Rockefeller drug laws that established mandatory-minimum sentences for narcotics crimes.
In office, he’s developed innovative alternatives to incarceration that have helped defendants while protecting public safety.
Today, Soares has come under fire from progressives because he keeps telling the truth about how recent, ill-conceived “criminal justice reforms” (like no-bail and Raise the Age) are disasters for the larger community, especially poor and minority communities.
Soares has repeatedly blasted Gov. Hochul and state lawmakers over their failure to fix the reforms, which he believes have “normalized” violence.
“David Soares is one of those rare birds: a man willing to challenge the orthodoxy of his party for the public good,” argue former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton and Jim Quinn, a former executive district attorney in the Queens DA’s Office. We couldn’t agree more.
Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple recently endorsed Soares: “David has been a champion for hundreds and hundreds of victims while being hard on offenders.”
Criminal defense attorney Lee Kindlon is his main challenger in this month’s Democratic primary: He says the reforms haven’t gone far enough, and wants the law to ease up on violent offenders, rapists and those accused of domestic violence.
Hyperprogressive DAs have wrought havoc in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago. Albany County residents deserve a district attorney who cares about real justice for the accused — and for crime victims.
And the entire state needs Soares’ voice in place, continuing to call out the truth. Don’t let the progressive machine shut him up.