The DA delivered the following remarks:
Following my Primary Day loss for the Democratic nomination for District Attorney, I replied to a question that I would not actively campaign for re-election on the Republican and conservative lines. I added that such a run was unrealistic. Within days of that decision several factors were brought to my attention which caused me considerable concern and raised questions about my decision. First of all, I learned that Mr. Thompson won the democratic nomination for District Attorney with slightly more than nine percent of the eighteen percent of the registered democrats who voted. It seemed to me, unfair that 82% of Democrats in Brooklyn and Brooklyn voters from all parties would be blocked at the General election on November 5th from choosing who their District Attorney would be for the next four years.
Furthermore, I learned that Clarence Norman Jr., the former Kings County Democratic Chair, whom I convicted of political corruption by extortion and sent to prison, ran Mr. Thompson’s get out the vote campaign on Primary Day. While that was troubling enough, what was more troubling was that when challenged by a New York Post reporter, Mr. Thompson denied that Norman as involved in any way with his campaign. Since the Reporter had confirmed with four independent sources including two political leaders who supported Thompson that Norman was in fact, actively involved in Thompson’s campaign operation Thompson’s denial was simply not credible. And now that Norman has acknowledged that he ran Thompson’s field operation on Primary Day it defies credulity that Thompson continues to deny that Norman had anything to do with his campaign.
In the days following the primary and for several weeks, I was received outpouring support from the people of Brooklyn with emails and phone calls as well as encouragement from people on the street to continue to serve as their District Attorney. And while the demand of the right to vote for vast majority of Brooklynites and the involvement of Clarence Norman were reason enough for me reconsider my decision.
Recently, I have been assured that enough funding will be available to permit me to wage a credible and successful race for re- election. Now that such a campaign is realistic I believe that I owe it to the greater number of voters of Kings County the opportunity to choose who should be their District Attorney rather than having that decision made by slightly more than nine percent of the eighteen percent of Democratic Primary voters.
The main issues for this campaign for the registered voters of Brooklyn are experience, qualifications and character. I will ask them to consider that during the five years Mr. Thompson served as a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn he was never promoted to a supervisory position. In addition, Mr. Thompson has had absolutely no experience with the New York State Criminal Justice System.
From any reasonable view neither of those factors prepares Ken Thompson to run one of the largest prosecuting offices in the country with 1,200 employees including 500 lawyers. Putting aside Mr. Thompson’s incredible response to weather Clarence Norman Jr., was active in his campaign, I will focus the voters of Brooklyn on my nearly 24 years as their District Attorney and to consider that I led my office to a historic reduction in serious crime bringing Brooklyn from 1990 when it was the fifth most violent municipality in the country to its current position where it is recognized as one of the ten best places to live in America.
They will also be asked to consider that throughout most of the primary election Mr. Thompson ridiculed our crime reducing alternatives to prosecution programs as social work not fit for the office of a public prosecutor. While Mr. Thompson now claims that he will retain these programs the voters will have to decide whether they can trust someone who denied the involvement of Clarence Norman’s role in his campaign.
Today, as I continue my campaign for re-election, I urge democrats, progressives and independent voters to join with Republicans and Conservatives to preserve the public safety of Kings County for their families, themselves, their friends and neighbors and to re-elect me as their District Attorney.