FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM NOVEMBER 7, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
Election 2019
Melinda Katz bests Joe Murray in Queens DA race
BY MAX PARROTT
mparrott@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
After a primary campaign that
attracted a national media frenzy and
a month-and-a-half-long primary election,
Photo by Todd Maisel
Queens Borough President Melinda Katz claimed victory in her run for Queens County District
Attorney Tuesday night in Forest Hills.
Melinda Katz clinched her role as
the next Queens District Attorney with
a victory against Joe Murray in the general
election on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
Katz declared victory shortly after the
polls closed, while the city’s Board of
Elections has Katz ahead with 137,632
votes compared to Murray’s 44,905
votes as of Wednesday afternoon,
with nearly 96 percent of the precincts
reporting.
“We are facing here an opportunity
to make a national model for criminal
justice reform and if we don’t do
it right here, it’s going to have massive
effects all across this country,” said Katz
said at her victory party at the Queens
Democratic Party office in Forest Hills.
After Katz eked out her primary battle
against the decarceral public defender
Tiffany Cabán in a primary battle
that involved a recount and court battle,
she went on to win handily with
a 50 point margin against Murray, an
ex-cop, lawyer and registered Democrat
who the Republicans nominated after
the primary.
Katz emerged from her primary victory
as the favorite to win in a borough
wide race where Democrats outnumber
Republicans by almost six to
one, and Katz had out-raised Murray by
the about the same multiple.
Her victory caps a campaign that
argued for an approach to the office
that blends a list of consensus-driven
progressive reforms with experience of
running a large city agency.
In her victory speech, Katz listed
some of her policy priorities, which
includes ending cash bail, prosecuting
unscrupulous employers, protecting
immigrant rights by keeping ICE agents
out of the courts and reducing gun violence.
In the weeks leading up to the
election, Katz also pledged to not prosecute
low-level marijuana arrests and
create a conviction integrity unit.
She spent the largest portion of her
speech on policies aimed at reducing
gun violence, which largely do
not involve her role as a prosecutor.
Following the death of 14-year-old
Aamir Griffin in South Jamaica and a
recent spike in gun violence in southeastern
Queens overall, Katz promised
to use the office of district attorney as a
support system for community groups
for at-risk youth.
“I will work day and night to make
sure that we not only keep this borough
safe, but that our young people get second
chances,” Katz said. “That we have
rehab programs to make sure that people
get the help that they actually need;
that we have mental health programs to
make sure recidivism does go down and
we will make sure there is justice here
in the borough of Queens.”
The no-frills setting of the Queens
Democratic Party Office served as a
reminder of Katz’s loyalty to the County
Party establishment. It wasn’t chosen
for its practicality, since the small,
balmy office could barely fit the crowd
of party insiders that came to see Katz
announce her victory.
“Considering everything we’ve been
through and how important the Queens
Organization was to this selection, it
was an important place to hold it,” said
Michael Reich, executive director of
the Queens Party, adding that the party
“broke it’s back” to help elect Katz.
Among the party insiders in attendance
were four of the borough president
hopefuls — Paul Vallone, Elizabeth
Crowley, Donovan Richards and Alicia
Hyndman, all of whom are vying for
the official party endorsement endorsement.
Now that Katz will officially be vacating
her current role of borough president,
the race to replace her will kick
into high gear. A special election for the
position will be held 45 days after Katz
assumes the role of district attorney.
Ranked-choice voting approved, along with four other Charter changes
BY VINCENT BARONE
Ranked-choice voting is coming to
New York City.
Voters approved all fi ve back-of-theballot
proposals Tuesday, according to
unoffi cial results from the city’s Board
of Elections, bringing the new voting
model the city along with a host of other
new policies.
New York will join more than a
dozen other cities and countries that
have adopted a ranked-choice model.
Th e approved proposal will set that new
ranked system in place for elections begging
in 2021.
Under the new model, voters can rank
up to fi ve candidates for primary and
special elections for mayor, public advocate,
comptroller, borough president and
the City Council. Instead of just choosing
one candidate, voters could rank them by
most preferred to least. If one candidate
receives the majority of fi rst-place votes,
that candidate wins the elections. If not,
ranked-choice triggers a vote transferal
process until a candidate with at least 50
percent of the vote is identifi ed.
Voters also passed a question with
fi ve proposals to expand and strengthen
the authority of the Civilian Complain
Review Board (CCRB), the group that
is charged with investigating reports of
police misconduct against civilians. Th e
measure, in part, authorizes the body
to investigate statements police make
during its investigative process and
expands the 13-member board by two
members.
Tuesday’s vote also approved a measure
that in part extends the ban on how long
There was a light turnout at the polls for the Election Day race that included fi ve charter referendums.
former city offi cials and appointees must
wait before lobbying their old agencies,
from one year to two.
Th e fourth approved proposal would
allow the city to create “rainy day fund”
in its budget and set minimum budgets
for public advocate and borough president
offi ces.
And the fi ft h measure approved relates
to land use and requires the city to submit
detailed project summaries to the
relevant borough president, borough
board and community board at least 30
days before the application is certifi ed for
public review. It also gives the local community
board additional time to review
the project.
The proposals had divided the
Photo by Todd Maisel
city’s editorial boards; the Daily News
endorsed all fi ve measures, while the
New York Post urged readers to vote
against them all. Th e New York Times
supported all but the fi ft h, arguing that
extending land use reviews would further
delay an “urgent need” to build more
aff ordable housing.
Th e back of the ballot was packed with
text — more than 900 words in English.
Th e fi ve questions rankled some who felt
it wrong to pack so many measures into
each proposal, which are up for a unilateral
“Yes” or “No” votes. Staten Island
Councilman Joe Borelli, for example,
told the Times that he would vote against
the CCRB proposal, even though he
approved one of its individual measures.
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