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Former NYPD Commish Ray Kelly Predicts Hochul Won’t Oust DA Alvin Bragg

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By:  Hellen Zaboulani

The longevity of left-wing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s career is still being debated, amid renewed calls for his ousting, as the top prosecutor in San Francisco was booted out by voters last week.

As reported by the NY Post, ex-NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly forecasted that Bragg is “here to stay”.  On Sunday, in a radio interview with “The Cats Roundtable” host John Catsimatidis, Kelly noted that New York does not hold recall elections, which would mean that the only way the DA could be booted would be by Gov. Kathy Hochul. “New York doesn’t have that capability. Only the governor can remove a district attorney, and that’s not going to happen,” Kelly said in the interview, adding that he doesn’t think Hochul was stable enough to take that political risk.

“I don’t think Governor Hochul is going to touch this, because it’s toxic as far as the politics are concerned,” said Mr. Kelly.  There would certainly be some backlash for Hochul if she was to oust the first black Manhattan DA, and she would probably opt out of doing so.  “She doesn’t want to do anything that looks like she is upsetting any group or any constituents who would be upset with this,” said NYC’s former top cop. “I think Alvin Bragg, unfortunately, is here to stay, at least for the rest of his term.”  Kelly also took the opportunity to rip NY’s Democratic lawmakers for declining to reverse the infamous bail reform bill passed in 2019. He said, “arrogance” of having a strong majority was behind the party’s refusal to rescind the controversial law.

A representative for Bragg declined to comment. Spokespeople for Hochul also didn’t return a request for comment by the Post.

Last Tuesday, in San Francisco, far-left District Attorney Chesa Boudin, was successfully ousted.  This gave resolution to numerous NY Republicans, including Andrew Giuliani and Lee Zeldin who are both running for governor, to say soft-on-crime Bragg will be next if they are elected in November.   “It turns out rampant shoplifting, drug dealing and car thefts are unacceptable for the people of San Francisco, who voted to recall their activist DA, Chesa Boudin,” the junior Giuliani said in a statement.  “Americans are begging to be safe on their streets again. As governor, I’ll recall any district attorney who chooses to serve the criminals instead of the people — and I’ll start with Manhattan’s Alvin Bragg.”

When Mr. Bragg took office in January, the first thing he did was downgrade certain crimes and announce that not all offenses would be prosecuted against.  He faced wide criticism as well as an online petition calling for his removal.  Amid the backlash, he backed off from two of the policies.

Section 34 of the state Public Officers Law, gives the governor the rarely used authority to remove a district attorney following a multi-step investigation.  Earlier this year, Hochul had commented that she was “monitoring the situation”, regarding Bragg’s controversial practices “very closely”.  Since then she has not taken any overt steps to suggest that she would take any serious action.

Last week, Bragg commented that he wasn’t following San Francisco’s recall election. “I’m focused on New York City,” he told reporters at NYPD headquarters. “I’m focused on crime here.”

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