Statement of Cyrus Vance, Jr. on Manhattan District Attorney’s Race
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – March 9, 2009
CONTACTS:
Barbara Thompson, Cy Vance for DA, 917-453-8561; press@cyvanceforda.com
Cy Vance, a veteran of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and a distinguished lifelong trial lawyer, declared his candidacy today for District Attorney of Manhattan on the steps of City Hall surrounded by supporters, promising to continue its “traditions of fairness, integrity and justice” under Robert Morgenthau and to continue to reduce crime by working closely with the borough’s neighborhoods.
“We will not just measure our success by the number of our convictions, but on the ability of the office, working with the communities it serves, to effect long-term crime prevention and crime reduction,” he said.
“I’ve been a prosecutor, I’ve been a Special Assistant Attorney General, and I’ve been a defense attorney,” said Vance, who was born in Manhattan. “I have learned that regardless of who you are, where you come from, or where you live, everybody wants a criminal justice system that stands for and delivers justice. And you cannot have justice unless you have fairness.”
Vance, who served on the State Sentencing Commission that just recommended an overhaul of the Rockefeller Drug Laws, praised the progress the state legislature is making in reforming them “to enact sentencing laws that offer treatment, not just punishment, and give people the hope of re-entry and rehabilitation.”
With the nation in economic crisis, Vance pledged to step up the office’s investigation and prosecution of white collar crime on Wall Street and said, “I am just as concerned when small business people are defrauded, your identity is stolen on the Internet, or when contractors pay kick-backs to public officials.”
Vance’s bid for the Democratic nomination is drawing support from a broad cross section of the City’s leading attorneys and community leaders.
“Cy Vance has the integrity, the experience and the energy to be a great District Attorney and a very worthy successor to Bob Morgenthau,” said Robert Fiske, former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Veteran civil rights attorney Eleanor Jackson Piel hailed him as “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.”
Victor A. Kovner, former Corporation Counsel of the City of New York under Mayor David Dinkins, said, “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.”
"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," said Rev. Reggie Williams, Chairman of the United Missionary Baptist Association’s Commission for Human and Economic Development.
“Cy Vance’s great sense of justice and fairness for all, regardless of gender or background, will make him a superb District Attorney for Manhattan,” said Fern Schair, Immediate Past Chair of the Fund for Modern Courts.
"As a superb prosecutor and leading member of the defense bar, Cy Vance is the candidate best qualified to lead this great office," said author Linda Fairstein, Former Chief, Sex Crimes Unit, Manhattan DA's Office.
David Boies, Chairman of Boies, Schiller & Flexner, LLP, said, “We can be confident that Cy Vance will continue the traditions of effective law enforcement, fairness and justice that have define and distinguished the Manhattan DA’s Office.”
The Democratic primary is Tuesday, September 15, 2009.
