All Caused by a Broken Voting System
By: Gary Tilzer
There is a belief in the NYC growing progressive political movement that elected officials have to get rid of the entire criminal justice system, which acts as a safety net for all New Yorkers. They cite it’s unfair to minorities, many who get trapped in the system with no hope of escape. Those that favor defunding the police or limiting bail to all but the most serious crimes, become silent when asked about the causes of rising crime, shootings in the city’s poor neighborhoods and bodegas, which includes the murder of Burger King worker Kristal Bayron-Nieves and one year old Davell Gardner shot in a Brooklyn park in 2020. Those that oppose the progressive crime reforms are silent on the innocent, mostly minorities, trapped in jail and those that can be saved from the criminal justice system. Both sides never discussed the broken criminal justice system beyond the narrative slogans they follow. The progressives want to shut down Rikers Island prison. Those opposed to them have found a new symbol, the clumsy ideological driven new Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, blaming him for every crime committed since January 1st, 2022.
DA Bragg Wanted to Make It Clear About His Ideological Mission, Instead Has Become A Target for Ignoring Public Safety
DA Bragg made himself a target by making a statement on his first day in office, when he ordered his staff “not seek a carceral sentence” for anything short of murder or deadly assault (“carceral” being progressive double-speak for prison). Also, he says minor crimes won’t be prosecuted at all. Those that follow criminal justice were shocked because the new DA could have accomplished his hyper-lenient policies quietly over the cause of normal business.
Bragg, 48, is a former federal prosecutor and is one of several progressive DAs to win elections in large cities with the help of money from George Soros, who helps elected prosecutors who behave more as defense attorneys than prosecuting DAs. Other DAs on team Soros include Chesa Boudin in San Francisco, Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner, and Kim Foxx in Chicago.
DA Bragg in record time has made himself the target of those that follow the NY Post and Daily News. The NY Times which endorsed Bragg for DA last year’s Democratic Primary is hiding in the witness protection program, as their partners in running NYC, CEO Kathryn Wylde of the Partnership whose members run the worlds finance, banking, real estate systems, is taking the lead in going after DA Bragg. Do Real Estate Barons Know4 How to Protect City Hall and Albany? Or Will Left- Wing Team AOC Take Over?
States like NY that do not have recall elections create powerful elected officials, even when they are corrupt or do not represent the public will, as we have all witnessed over and over.
Nobody is quite sure how to get rid of elected officials in NY. Some think the governor can remove or bring up on charges the DA for dereliction of duty. Gov. Kathy Hochul who faces left-winger public advocate Jumaane Williams and Congressman Tom Suozzi who is running in the Democratic Primary, has the most immediate problem with DA Bragg. There is even a petition drive to recall Bragg.
Albany Incumbents have Been Bullying NY’s Voters by Setting Up Voting Rules and Systems that Assure Their Reelection for Decades
There is no support in Albany to give New Yorkers the ability to vote in a recall election or term limits, which would give the voters a chance to limit elected officials power and make them more accountable to public opinion. In fact, Albany is supporting voting changes that increase the incumbent’s reelection chances and make them more powerful, which in a one-party state like NY is dangerous to its democracy & our safety.
After promising independent redistricting for 20 years and ignoring a 2014 vote to change the state’s constitution to require Independent redistricting, Albany will allow one-party to draw safe seats for its Democratic incumbent members. In Addition, the State Senate just passed a bill to expand absentee ballots (which was not approved by the voters as amendments to the state Constitution in November), adding drop boxes, strengthening early voting, and limiting corporate money in campaigns. Allowing no excuse for absentee ballots and drop boxes in one-party NYC will result in targeting or harvesting votes making it easier for incumbents to get reelected. Only 3.4% of the voters in the city voted during the 10 days of early voting in the 2021 primary.
The reason DA Bragg was elected is that the NY voting system allows a DA to be elected in an eight-way split in the Democratic Primary with 32% of the vote; the low-turnout in General Election in most races does not change the outcome. The second-place winner in the Democratic Primary Tali Farhadian Weinstein received 29% of the vote, ran a positive campaign with a lot of heavy weight endorsement, that included Hillary Clinton, AG Eric Holder and several congressional members.
39% of the voters voted for the six other DA candidates, all except Elizabeth Crotty ran as progressives. Bragg, who campaigned at Manhattan political clubs by reducing guns clearly, was not the most left-wing candidate in the race. The third-place finisher, Tahanie Agouti who received 10% ran a much more left-wing activists’ campaign than Bragg. Aboushi wrote on her website that she would “Change the Face of Our Justice System, by ending mass incarceration and investing in our communities, build schools instead of cages, and change the role of the District Attorney to uplift the communities harmed by the prison-industrial complex.”
Another problem that the Bragg’s primary highlights is that NYC primaries heavily favor left-wing candidates. About two million moderate and conservative registered voters in NYC are blocked from voting in the only election that counts, the Democratic Primary. If NYC had nonpartisan elections, voters not registered to vote in a party (1.2 million) or are members of the Republican Party (500,000) would reduce the power of left-wing progressive to win elections.
A Perfect Storm Caused by A Broken Election System Designed to Protect Incumbents Elected DA Bragg Put New Yorkers in Danger
Albany incumbents also like the fact that few vote in NY’s elections. Most voters and media understand that the real election with few exceptions are the Democratic Primaries, there was even a failed attempt last year to re-register NYC moderate voters to vote in the mayoral primary. Only 20% of the registered voters in Manhattan voted in the General Election for DA. Only about 10,000 more voters voted in the Manhattan DAs race in the General Elections than in the primary, despite the fact that 384,660 more non-democratic party registered voters were eligible to cast their ballots. 30% of Manhattan Democratic registered voters (877,577) voted in the Democratic Primary for DA. The Republican candidate received only 15% of the vote in the General Election, besides efforts by DA candidate Thomas Kenniff warning the voters about Bragg progressive left-wing views on law enforcement.
A majority of the people who live or work in Manhattan want to reduce crime, their objectives seem to conflict with their new DA. The Partnership knows many of the boroughs rich, middle class and businesses are voting with their feet, moving to places like Florida or Texas rather than deal with the high crime, and high taxes and NY’s new wave of elected officials have a tin ear, thinking their ideological beliefs are more important than public safety and want to reimagine government while ignoring or not knowing the history on the governing that made NYC the greatest city in the world.
