The queens Chronicle: Dem Grasso declares candidacy vs. Katz

The 2022 general election is not until Nov. 8. But the 2023 race for Queens district attorney has left the starting gate.

George Grasso worked his way up in the NYPD over 30 years from foot patrolman in the 113th Precinct to first deputy chief. In 2010 Mayor Mike Bloomberg appointed him as a criminal court judge. He had risen to administrative judge for criminal matters for Queens Supreme Court when he retired this past summer to challenge District Attorney and fellow Democrat Melinda Katz.

“This would be a continuation of my 43 years in the criminal justice system,” he said. “... Public safety isn’t a privilege. It’s a right.”

Grasso believes that bail reform, passed in 2019 and enacted in 2020 is, along with other measures passed by the Legislature, responsible for spikes in major crime that the borough and city have seen since. He believes Katz was too quick to embrace them, and that she does not do enough to safeguard the borough even within the constraints that have been placed on prosecutors and the courts.

“It was rushed in the budget process,” Grasso said of bail reform, referring to similar remarks he made at a public safety forum in February 2020.

“There was maximum consultation with what I call so-called progressive advocates and defense advocates, and that’s fine,” Grasso said. “But minimal consultation with judges like me, with law enforcement, with district attorneys.”

He said the potential dangerousness of any criminal defendant is something judges must be able to weigh when setting bail, a tool that jurists in the remaining 49 states have.

“That puts judges in an impossible box,” he said. “ ... If Melinda Katz has addressed this issue in such clear, direct terms as I have, I’ve missed it. She makes oblique references to dangerousness, but where is she taking a position?”

And he headed off criticism that he is being a political opportunist.

“I’m a 40-year registered and voting Democrat in Queens County,” he said. “It’s not like I became a Democrat six months ago.”

He also has no problem, in theory, with closing Rikers Island and replacing it with local jails that would house inmates closer to their families, loved ones and lawyers.

But he said those plans assume reduced city jail populations when existing laws and policies actually are sending the population higher. He believes jail facilities could work in tandem with mental healthcare providers such as Bellevue Hospital.

Grasso said changes to bail reforms enacted by the Legislature and Gov. Hochul were “empty and meaningless.” He referred to programs he created and supervised within the court system, such as one for opioid cases.

“I’ve invented and implemented these programs,” Grasso said. “I know how these things work. And what Gov. Hochul did was not a fix. It was a dodge.”

That said, failing additional changes, a DA Grasso still would be bound by the same laws as Katz and other district attorneys in the state. He said there still are things DAs can do that he is not always seeing done.

“What I can do is multifaceted,” Grasso said. “I can take stock of the laws that currently exist. And I can create priorities as to how I am going to enforce the law, especially with repeat offenders, especially with offenders who are a threat to the community and who are still released due to what I consider the ill-considered mandates of the legislation.”

He also said a DA can use the bully pulpit; and needs to be in regular touch with NYPD precinct commanders, whom he said have their hands directly on the pulse of crime in the community.

He said it all comes down to leveling with residents.

“You hear a lot of feel-good things with [Katz],” Grasso said. “Not a lot of crime data.”

Max Kramer, a spokesman for Katz’s campaign, dismissed Grasso’s critiques.

“District Attorney Katz is focused on protecting Queens families,” he said. “She’s focused on getting guns off the streets, holding human traffickers accountable for their crimes and making sure that the communities she’s committed her public life’s work to are safe and that criminals who commit crimes in those communities are held accountable.”

Written by Michael Gannon, The Queens Chronicle

https://www.qchron.com/editions/queenswide/dem-grasso-declares-candidacy-vs-katz/article_2f01ae8b-8b39-57dd-984f-a2338466f874.html