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Senator Schumer Backs Ken Thompson for Brooklyn DA
By
Cecilia D'Anastasio
Published Oct 7, 2013
Modified Oct 7, 2013
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Gothamist
By
Cecilia D'Anastasio
Published Oct 7, 2013
Modified Oct 7, 2013
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On the steps of City Hall earlier today, Senator Chuck Schumer endorsed Democratic primary winner Ken Thompson for Brooklyn DA. Describing Thompson as the "right man with the right ideas at the right time," Schumer framed his support as a duty to the Democratic Party. "It's time for a change," one woman said. "Someone with a fresh look." When asked if she herself had voted in the primary, unlike 80% of registered Democrats, the stay-at-home mother refused to comment.
Though the crowd was thin, Schumer's presence certainly bolstered the notion that there's only one person in the city who actually believes that Thompson won't be the next district attorney of Kings County.
Speaking of Charles Hynes, the current DA told the Daily News this weekend that one of the reasons he abandoned his promises for a "classy exit" and is running as a Republican after getting handily beaten by Thompson in the primary (and riddled by scandals), is that he believes the former Brooklyn Democratic Party Chairman Clarence Norman, Jr. helped run Thompson's campaign.
Hynes prosecuted Norman in the mid-2000s for taking illegal campaign donations in exchange for the promise of judgeships. Norman was allegedly at Thompson's victory party on primary night, but Hynes has yet to offer any concrete evidence to support his theory.
Today Thompson said that Hynes's allegations were "desperate" and "an outright lie." The candidate claimed that Norman "has nothing to do with my campaign" and that Hynes was using the false accusation "to justify his decision to turn his back on Brooklyn."
Only 10% of Brooklyn voters are registered Republicans, but Hynes is counting on "grassroots" supporters to cross party lines and bolster his campaign. At Hynes's first post-primary fundraiser in Bay Ridge last week he raised around $150,000.
Thompson assured the crowd that he wasn't going to uproot Hynes's popular alternative sentencing programs. "I'm going to build upon Hynes' programs...Anything you hear about me destroying or dismantling is an outright lie," the candidate said.
We asked the Thompson campaign if Hynes's "lies" caused them to question the integrity of any existing programs or investigations within the DA's office, and were told the question was too "loaded."
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