The whole David Soares blow-up is unsettling.
The once obscure prosecutor who had the Working Families party and bizarre billionaire George Soros buy him the Albany County District Attorney’s office is acting like a robot programmed by the far, far left.
Soares got elected by promising to lead the reform of the Rockefeller Drug Laws. That was two years ago. Forgetting that he has been elected to be a prosecutor and not a lawmaker, Soares was up in Canada to keep calling for further reform of the Rocky laws.
Soares also managed to insult every law enforcement professional in the country by saying that the war on drugs is based solely on providing jobs for police officers. The head of the Albany Police union said Soares should step down and Sheriff Jim Campbell and Albany Police Chief Jim Tuffey blasted the irresponsible comments.
Like Jim Franco asked in his Talespin column in The Record on May 8: What exactly is the Albany County DA doing in Canada? And others have noted that while Soares has time to strut around the land of maple sugar, residents in the Buckingham Pond neighborhood of Albany – a Pine Hills enclave once thought to be secure - are so concerned about crime they are forming Neighborhood Watch units.
A couple of other thoughts: Exactly how effective is a prosecutor going to be in working with rank and file police officers after he has insulted them? And will Soares enforce existing drug laws? What does Soares think about the terrible blight brought by drug-dealing to inner city neighborhoods?
Upstate residents should be worried. In politics, parties sometimes don’t reveal their true intentions. But Soares is bringing a real downstate flavor to an upstate county once renowned for being tough on crime. Remember, the Democrats are probably running a statewide ticket that includes only New York City residents. On May 8, a few days after making his initial and explosive comments, Soares basically reaffirmed his original position, comparing the war on drugs to the annihilation of an entire generation. Standing behind Soares and applauding his comments were top Dems, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and state Dem party chairman Denny Farrell.
Posted May 9
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