Morgenthau Wins His 9th Term as D.A.
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After a hard-fought campaign, the district attorney of Manhattan, Robert Morgenthau, last night won his ninth term, making him the second-longest-serving chief prosecutor in the borough’s history.
With all precincts reporting, Mr. Morgenthau, who turned 86 this year, had 59% of the vote, compared to 41% for a former state judge, Leslie Crocker Snyder. The campaign, marked by negative advertising and bitter exchanges, was his first serious challenge in more than two decades.
Other than the Democratic mayoral primary, the race for Manhattan district attorney was the highest-profile and most closely watched election in the city. There were, however, other key contests in yesterday’s Democratic primary, including the district attorney’s race in Brooklyn, in which incumbent Charles Hynes was fighting to hold onto his seat; the contest for president of Manhattan, which drew nine candidates; the race for public advocate, and a number of City Council seats.
At 10:45 p.m., Mr. Hynes, who narrowly won re-election in 2001, looked like the winner again. The public advocate, Betsy Gotbaum, held onto her post, and Assemblyman Scott Stringer, who represents the Upper West Side, emerged as the next president of Manhattan. Council Member Allan Jennings was the only apparent city council upset.
At Puttanesca, a restaurant on the West Side, Mr. Morgenthau’s supporters were upbeat as they awaited results.
“Everyone here loves Bob Morgenthau with a passion,” the director of the Museum of Jewish Heritage, David Marwell, said. Mr. Morgenthau said he was “grateful” to the voters and vowed to have a productive next term.
During the course of the campaign, the prosecutor, who was first elected to office in 1975, attacked Judge Crocker Snyder for her pro-death penalty stance, a position she worked to soften on the campaign trail as she tried to appeal to Democratic primary voters, who tend to be the most left-leaning members of the party.
Governor Cuomo, one of Mr. Morgenthau’s staunchest supporters and a vocal opponent of the death penalty, said yesterday that the district attorney deserved another term.
“He’s been thoroughly tested, he has a great record by all the statistics,” Mr. Cuomo told The New York Sun during a phone interview.
Mr. Cuomo said a recent campaign mailing sent by the Crocker Snyder camp stating her opposition to the death penalty was counter to her previous position and her record on the bench. Judge Crocker Snyder had said she was only in favor of the death penalty in extreme cases.
In Brooklyn, Mr. Hynes, the only other district attorney on the ballot yesterday, had three opponents – state Senator John Sampson, a former senior attorney in Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s office, Mark Peters, and a former assistant district attorney who also worked in the Koch administration, Arnold Kriss. Last night, with all precincts reporting, Mr. Hynes had roughly 41% of the vote, Mr. Sampson had 37%, Mr. Peters had 15%, and Mr. Kriss had 7%.
That race was one of the fiercest contests for the job in recent memory, with the challengers accusing the four-term incumbent of corruption. Mr. Hynes also drew fire from some for his indictment of the head of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, Assemblyman Clarence Norman.
At P.S. 142, however, Cheryl Hayden, a writer who lives in Carroll Gardens, said Mr. Hynes got her vote. “He’s done a fairly decent job, and I don’t think anyone has made a compelling argument to me at this to change course at this point,” she said.
With a crowded field of nine candidates and no opportunity for a runoff election, the race for borough president in Manhattan was one of the most interesting. The field included two black candidates, three Hispanic candidates, and four non-Hispanic white candidates.
Mr. Stringer, who had the backing of the United Federation of Teachers and several other large unions, was the favorite going into primary. Because runoffs are reserved for citywide races, a small slice of the electorate could win it in a crowded race. Mr. Stringer won with 26% of the vote.
Outside a Lower Manhattan polling site yesterday, Ethan Stein said Mr. Stringer “seems like he’s a can-do kind of guy.”
Ms. Gotbaum, the public advocate, also had a tough race. Her challengers included a civil rights attorney, Norman Siegel; a business executive, Andrew Rasiej, and a longtime Republican who recently switched the Democratic Party, Jay Golub.
Meanwhile, seven open City Council seats were filled last night and at least one Democratic incumbent, Mr. Jennings, who was accused of sexual harassment by several of his female staffers, was unseated by a former council member from the Jamaica, Queens, district, Thomas White. With all precincts reporting, Mr. White had 41% of the vote to Mr. Jennings’s 30%.
On Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Rosie Mendez, the former chief of staff to outgoing Council Member Margarita Lopez, was leading all of her challengers solidly as of 10:30 p.m.
A little farther up on the East Side, Jessica Lappin and Daniel Garodnick won by wide margins to replace the council speaker, Gifford Miller, and the chairwoman of the education committee, Eva Moskowitz.
In Harlem, Inez Dickens won, but Felipe Luciano and Melissa Mark-Viverito were locked in a close race. In Brooklyn, Darlene Mealy won roughly 47% of the vote to replace Council Member Tracy Boyland. She was up against William Boyland Sr., who had 18%. Ms. Boyland’s father, a former assemblyman, came out of retirement to run.
In the Bronx, James Vacca, who served as district manager for the community board, beat former Assemblyman Stephen Kaufman roughly 38% to 26%.