Crain's New York Business Editorial: Vance for Manhattan DA

In the 1980s, a friend of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau's told him that he had been shaken down at every step of his company's renovation of the Rainbow Room. The contractor told the DA he would never work in New York City again, and Mr. Morgenthau realized what a “tax'' the mob and other predators were imposing on business and the economy of the city.

The result was a decades-long crusade by Mr. Morgenthau's office to break organized crime's grip on key sectors. First, he drove organized crime from the trucking business, then he broke up the mob-dominated garbage cartel, then he cleaned up the garment center and the Javits Convention Center. The effort soon broadened to tackle money laundering, securities fraud and eventually executive greed.

The key question for the city's business community in the Sept. 15 Democratic primary to succeed Mr. Morgenthau is who will continue his efforts to protect honest business-people. The candidate most likely to continue Mr. Morgenthau's work is Cyrus Vance Jr., and Crain's endorses him. (Since Manhattan is overwhelmingly Democratic, the winner of the primary is virtually certain to be elected in November.)

All three candidates—Mr. Vance, Richard Aborn and Leslie Crocker Snyder—served at some point in the Manhattan District Attorney's office and have built solid résumés and run creditable campaigns for the office. All three pledge fidelity to the successes of the Morgenthau era yet say there should be changes, too, which is not unwelcome, given Mr. Morgenthau's 34 years in the position.

But Mr. Aborn's emphasis would clearly be on implementing alternatives to imprisonment and on tougher gun laws, the issue where he has done the bulk of his work in recent years. Ms. Crocker Snyder's emphasis would be on violent felons, as befits someone who made her reputation handling such cases in the 1980s. Mr. Vance has had a distinguished career, and his decision to pull up stakes and move to Seattle to escape the shadow of his father is a sign of character, not the negative that his opponents claim. Most important, he occupies the middle ground, which puts him closest to Mr. Morgenthau.

He is the best choice to succeed his mentor.

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  • "I support Cy Vance in this year’s election because I believe he is the best qualified, by his experience and his views, to keep this office the strongest in the nation."

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Robert M. Morgenthau
    Manhattan District Attorney

  • "Cy is the most experienced candidate in the race, and he has the support of those who best understand what is needed in our next DA. He has served as an outstanding prosecutor, criminal defense lawyer, commissioner for sentencing reform and community leader. But perhaps most importantly, through his long career, he has maintained the ability to combine pragmatism and idealism to achieve justice."

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Caroline Kennedy
    Activist, Author, Attorney

  • “Cy Vance is an accomplished lawyer, a passionate advocate and a true progressive. But most importantly, he embodies a characteristic that I believe is essential for the Manhattan DA: fairness. "

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Hon. David Dinkins
    Former Mayor, New York City

  • "Cy will be the kind of progressive D.A. that Manhattan needs – a lifelong opponent of the death penalty and supporter of the rights of women, LGBT people, and people of color. Throughout his career as a distinguished trial lawyer, Cy has embodied the principles of fairness and integrity that have long been central to the Manhattan D.A.’s office. He will work tirelessly to protect our communities."

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Betsy Gotbaum
    Public Advocate, New York City

  • "The people of Manhattan expect and deserve a DA that will handle criminal justice issues with fairness and integrity... Cy has spent his career working on these issues [crime prevention, alternatives to incarceration, economic crime and financial fraud] from inside the courtroom, and his expertise is second to none. Manhattan DA is an important job, and it demands a leader with unparalleled legal skill and the utmost integrity."

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    H. Carl McCall
    Former Comptroller, NYS

  • "It's clear that Cy Vance has the experience and judgment necessary to lead such an important office. He has spent a lifetime in the courtroom, working on both sides of complex cases... We are endorsing Cy because we trust that he will look out for working families to make sure that they are safe and justice is being served."

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Gregory Floyd
    President, Teamsters Local 237

  • “Cy's innovative vision of how to forge a greater partnership between prosecutors, police and the community is exactly the type of forward thinking that we believe will make this city an even safer place to live and work... Of all the candidates in the race, Cy is the only one with the right experience to run this office.”

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Ed Mullins
    President, Sergeants Benevolent Association

  • “…an attorney in the tradition of Hogan and Morgenthau who will carry on a policy of fairness and toughness as chief law enforcement officer for New York County.”

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Eleanor Jackson Piel
    Veteran Civil Rights Attorney

  • "Cyrus Vance has the experience and wisdom to understand that the public safety that New Yorkers deserve will not be achieved as the accidental by-product of business as usual prosecutions.  Cy Vance has long advocated the kind of proactive engagement with local communities that can produce dramatic crime reduction in the areas of our city most in need.”

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Zachary Carter
    Former U.S. Attorney,
    Eastern District of New York

  • “We can be confident that Cy Vance will continue the traditions of effective law enforcement, fairness and justice that have defined and distinguished the Manhattan DA’s Office.”

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    David Boies
    Chairman of Boies, Schiller & Flexner, LLP

  • "Cy Vance's advocacy of reform of the draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws will help addicts get the treatment that they need instead of the prison time that turns them into hardened criminals."

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Rev. Reggie Williams
    Chairman of the United Missionary Baptist Association’s Commission for Human and Economic Development
    Pastor - Charity Baptist Church of Christ

  • “Cy Vance is clearly the best qualified, most experienced, and most decent candidate to meet the enormous challenges and responsibilities of the office of District Attorney of New York County.”

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Victor A. Kovner
    Former Corporation Counsel of the City of New York under Mayor David Dinkins

  • "As a superb prosecutor and leading member of the defense bar, Cy Vance is the candidate best qualified to lead this great office."

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Author Linda Fairstein
    Former Chief, Sex Crimes Unit, Manhattan DA's Office

  • "Cy Vance has the experience, judgment and integrity to preserve the best traditions of this office and to ensure public safety and fairness.  Cy Vance is my choice for District Attorney.”

    Endorser Name & Title: 

    Michael Cherkasky
    Former Chief, Investigations Division, Manhattan District Attorney's Office

  • Endorser Name & Title: 
    “Cy Vance has the integrity, the experience and the energy to be a great District Attorney and a very worthy successor to Bob Morgenthau.”

    Robert Fiske
    Former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York

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