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QUEENS WEEKLY, NOV. 3, 2019
ELECTION 2019
Katz and Murray battle in Queens DA race
BY BILL PARRY
They both have offices on
Queens Boulevard in Kew
Gardens, but when it comes
to the race for district attorney,
the two candidates are
miles apart.
Queens Borough President
Melinda Katz, the Democratic
nominee, based her
campaign on experience after
nearly 20 years in public
service at the city and state
level.
Republican nominee Joe
Murray says that’s precisely
why Katz should not be district
attorney: because she
is “a career politician with
no criminal court experience.”
The former NYPD
cop turned criminal defense
attorney was a supporter of
Judge Greg Lasak during
the Democratic primary. Lasak
served 25 years as a top
prosecutor in the Queens district
attorney’s office before
leaving to serve 12 years on
the Queens Supreme Court
bench.
When Lasak finished
third, Murray, a registered
Democrat, approached the
Queens GOP about taking
its party line in the general
election after attorney Daniel
Kogan left the ticket following
his nomination to
the state Supreme Court in
August.
Katz and Murray were
at odds on the City Council’s
approval of the de Blasio administration’s
plan to close
Rikers Island and open four
borough-based jail including
one in Kew Gardens at the
location of the old Queens
Detention Complex.
Katz applauded the proposed
closing of the jails on
Rikers, but not its replacement.
“I don’t support the plan
to build a 1,500-person jail in
Queens, regardless of where
the city wants to build it,”
Katz said. “Rather, we need
a small, community-based
facility that will allow people
to be closer to their communities
and receive the services
they need, but is not so
large that we end up putting
more people behind bars.”
Murray had nothing but
contempt for the progressive
take on the issue, insisting
there was no need to fast
track the penal facility and
instead build new facilities
on Rikers.
“In essence, they would
like to normalize incarceration
as if it’s another afterschool
program. I believe jail
should be a place you don’t
want to go back to and not
something that should be
normalized in our community,”
Murray said. “No one
has ever escaped from Rikers
Island. It was built to detain
people who have committed
crimes against NYC citizens.
It was never supposed to be
pleasant and a comfortable
environment for criminals.”
The two candidates
squared off in their only
televised debate last week
on NY1 and their differing
philosophies were
evident.
“My idea of criminal
justice, my idea of keeping
Queens County safe, is that
we institute programs that
people don’t want to pick up
guns, and then we work with
the correctional facilities,”
Katz said. “And we work
with probation and we work
with all the people that are
already in the system, to
make sure that those who
should be punished should
be punished.”
Murray was dismissive.
“I’m running because
I’m against this progressive
criminal justice reform that’s
been rammed down our
throats by Mayor de Blasio,”
Murray said. “I am a Democrat
running on the Republican
line. The Democratic
Party hates me because I’m
challenging you and, God
forbid, you go against the
party. And the Republican
Party tolerates me. They tolerate
me because they know
I’m a Democrat and I’m the
most qualified person so
they tolerate me. I owe nothing
to no one.”
Katz and Murray differed
on bail reform, decriminalizing
prostitution
and their approach to limiting
gun violence. They did
agree they were the best
candidate to replace Acting
Queens District Attorney
John Ryan who took over
the office in March when
Richard Brown, 86, took a
leave of absence in March
before dying from Parkinson’s
disease in May.
Melinda Katz and Joe Murray are facing off in the race for Queens District Attorney.
QNS file photos
Early voting period remains open through Nov. 3
BY BILL PARRY
The early voting period
got underway in Queens
on Saturday and continues
through Sunday, Nov. 3,
in the lead-up to the Nov. 5
municipal elections.
The eight days of early
voting makes it easier for
voters whose professional
and family obligations
make it difficult to physically
get to the polls, as well
as reduce waiting times
and ease logistical burdens
for poll workers. This is the
first election in New York
state with a period of early
voting.
“Too many generations
of New Yorkers have been
discouraged from exercising
their right to vote, and
this year we enacted a series
of new measures to fix
that and help bring our voting
laws into the 21st century,”
Governor Andrew
Cuomo said. “Early voting
is just one of the many steps
we’ve taken to break down
barriers to democracy, and
I encourage New Yorkers to
take advantage of this opportunity
to skip the lines
on Election Day and ensure
their voices are heard at
the ballot box.”
Voters must use their
site as assigned by the
Board of Elections. Assigned
sites, as well as
early voting hours, are also
available on the Board of
Elections website.
State Senator Michael
Gianaris sponsored the
early voting legislation
that Cuomo signed into law
in January.
“At a time when voters
rights are under assault, we
must fight for our democracy
because there’s nothing
more important than
the right to vote,” Gianaris
said. “Our new Senate Majority
made voter registration
easier and access to the
ballot box fairer.”
Initially, only seven sites
were planned for Queens
until Gianaris pushed the
city’s Board of Election to
expand early voting sites,
which are now located at
Rochdale Village Community
Center in Jamaica;
Korean Community Services
in Bayside; The Helen
Marshall Cultural Center
at Queens Borough Hall
in Kew Gardens; The York
College Academic Core
Building in Jamaica; Laguardia
Community College
in Long Island City;
The First Baptist Church of
East Elmhurst; Holy Trinity
Parish Church in Cambria
Heights; the Board of
Elections-Queens Voting
Machine Facility Annex
in Middle Village; Resorts
World Casino in Jamaica;
the Museum of the Moving
Image in Astoria; The
Arverne YMCA; The Cross
Island YMCA in Bellerose;
and The Al Oerter Recreation
Center and New York
Hall of Science, both in
Flushing Meadows Corona
Park.
“I encourage everyone
to exercise their right to
vote by using the tools we
passed this year,” Gianaris
said.
The early voting period remains open through Nov. 3.
Photo: Jenna Bagcal/QNS