Dear Friend and Reader:
KINGSTON, NY — Sept. 26 (PWFM) — All politics is local. This morning, I covered the debate for Ulster County District Attorney, an elected position in New York State. The event was sponsored by the Ulster Chamber of Commerce and the League of Women Voters.
About 200 people showed up, filling the room to capacity — very impressive in 2023. There were about four other reporters in the room. I imagine some of the people in the audience knew what this position is really about, but it’s a little obscure to most.
The DA is the state’s prosecutor, with “district” in this instance meaning “county.” The DA’s office is like a public law firm that prosecutes alleged crime within the district. The office also has an investigative bureau, which in Ulster County coordinates and supervises the investigations of detectives from many independent town police departments.
As one official in that department said to me recently, “We have a bureau for everything” — legal discovery, grand jury presentations, appeals, and so on. So in total, it’s a complex operation, with an approximately $6 million annual budget.
That sounds like a lot — but it’s sometimes one client’s settlement in a personal injury case. In Ulster County, the DA’s office prosecutes between 200 and 400 new felonies per month.
The candidates are Emmanuel Nnneji, a Democrat, and Michael Kavanagh Jr., who is a Republican running as an independent. Kavanagh lost last time to David Clegg by about 78 votes.
Both candidates have extensive experience as an assistant district attorney (ADA), and both have served as chief ADA under different administrations. Nneji, current chief ADA, is essentially a career prosecutor; he once worked briefly as an assistant attorney general as well.
Kavanagh has also served clients as a defense attorney and sometimes works for the public defender’s office, as he is currently not part of the DA’s office.
A full recording of the debate is above, and some photos below (formal and informal) to give you a sense of who these people are.
This is a production of Planet Waves FM - Chiron Return, a local affiliate of the Pacifica Radio Network.
— Eric F. Coppolino
Sr. Producer — Planet Waves FM - Chiron Return
All politics is local