Manhattan DA rethinking donations
Vance took money in ’15 from Weinstein lawyer
NEW YORK — A furor over the Manhattan district attorney’s decision to shut down a groping investigation of Harvey Weinstein two years ago is putting a spotlight on the DA’S practice of taking campaign contributions from defense attorneys.
Cyrus R. Vance Jr. insists he doesn’t let money influence his decisions, and his representatives say all donations are vetted for potential conflicts of interest, and some are refused.
Moreover, accepting contributions from the defense bar is common among many prosecutors in New York state and beyond.
But the practice troubles many good-government watchdogs because of the doubts it can sow about the fairness of the criminal justice system, as the Weinstein case demonstrated.
Vance’s campaign records show the two-term Democrat has taken money from lawyers who regularly face off against his staff in court, from white-shoe firms to scrappy criminal defense attorneys with less-notable clients.
Vance’s donor list includes his former private-practice law partner, Elkan Abramowitz, who was hired by Weinstein in 2015 to successfully fend off an allegation that the Hollywood studio boss molested a 22-year-old Italian model during a business meeting.
Abramowitz has contributed nearly $26,000 to Vance, most of it before he was hired by Weinstein, who has denied any nonconsensual sexual contact with any women.
After a barrage of sexual harassment and assault allegations led to Weinstein’s downfall earlier this month, the National Organization for Women held a protest outside Vance’s office over his refusal to prosecute, and the disclosure about the campaign contributions only compounded the anger.
Vance said the prosecutors in his sex-crimes unit determined they couldn’t prove the woman’s allegations, even though police had recorded Weinstein apologizing after she accused him of grabbing her breast.
On Sunday, the DA announced that he has temporarily stopped accepting donations and asked an outside ethics group, the Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity, to review how his campaign handles contributions and potential conflicts.
“I’ve never allowed someone’s wealth, power, race, or campaign contributions to influence my decisions,” he wrote in the Daily News. “Over the past few days, I’ve learned that it’s not enough for me to have confidence in my independence from donors.
The people of New York deserve to be confident about it as well.”
Susan Lerner, executive of the good government group Common Cause, said as long as private money funds elections for local prosecutors, there will be suspicions about the criminal justice system.
“The problem is systemic,” she said. “It’s not at all limited to DA Cy Vance.”