DA candidates differ on key issues
Bail reform and pot legalization among topics dividing Clegg, Kavanagh at Freeman debate
KINGSTON, N.Y. The two men vying to become Ulster County’s next chief prosecutor offered differing opinions Tuesday on issues ranging from the legalization of marijuana to the state’s newly adopted bail reform law.
Republican Michael J. Kavanagh and Democrat David Clegg participated in an hourlong debate at the Daily Freeman office in Kingston. They are running to succeed Republican Holley Carnright, who is retiring as district attorney after serving three fouryear terms.
Kavanagh, who has been Carnright’s chief assistant district attorney for the last five years and has worked as both a prosecutor and defense attorney, took aim at Clegg’s lack of prosecutorial experience, saying it, as much as their
stand on issues, is what differentiates the two from one another.
“I am the only candidate in the race who has ever prosecuted a case,” Kavanagh said, noting he has prosecuted some of the most heinous crimes committed in the county. “I think it’s very important to have that experience. I don’t need any on-the-job training.”
Clegg downplayed his lack of prosecutorial experience, saying his own experience as a crime victim as a youth, combined with
40 years of practicing criminal law, including nine years of a public defender, makes him uniquely qualified to lead the prosecutor’s office at a time of great criminal justice reform in the state.
Topics discussed during the debate, in which the candidates fielded questions from a Freeman reporter, included the state’s new bail reform laws, the opioid epidemic, the legalization of marijuana, and restorative justice efforts.
Kavanagh said he supports the increased use of specialized drug courts and said anyone convicted of a nonviolent crime should be referred to such courts. But, he warned, some defense attorneys
see drug courts as setting their clients up to fail because of the onerous requirements.
Kavanagh said he worries that bail reform laws taking effect in January could hinder the ability of prosecutors to get people into programs because being put in jail on bail for nonviolent crimes will no longer be an option.
“Bail is a very effective tool in combating the opioid epidemic,” Kavanagh said, because it forces people to stop using drugs and leaves them more receptive to accepting the help they need.
He said opioid treatment efforts will have “its legs cut out from underneath them”
without courts having the ability to offer a person the choice between going into a rehabilitation center or jail.
Clegg said addiction is a disease, not a crime, and that he supports diversion programs that would get drug offenders into rehabilitation rather than forcing them to admit a crime as a condition of receiving treatment.
“Diversion programs don’t require somebody to plead guilty in order to get treatment,” Clegg said. “We don’t want impediments to somebody getting treatment.”
He disagreed with Kavanagh’s suggestion that bail can be used as a tool toward
recovery and said the county instead needs programs that will enable individuals to get immediate access to rehabilitation programs without going through the criminal justice system.
Both men said they support some form of bail reform, though Kavanagh said the current state law has the potential to allow dangerous criminals to be put back on the street.
Clegg called Kavanagh’s claims “fear-mongering” and said there are ways for the courts to “get around” the no-bail provisions if individuals are really seen as a threat to the community.
The two also differed on
the legalization of marijuana, with Kavanagh expressing concern that legalization could lead to a rise in accidents caused by people driving under the influence. He also said with the opioid crisis at the level that it is, he doesn’t believe the state should be considering the legalization of marijuana.
Clegg said he supports the legalization of marijuana and that many of the concerns Kavanagh raised were public health issues, not criminal justice matters.
Voters in Ulster County can cast their ballots at any of eight early voting sites between Oct. 26 and Nov. 3. Election Day is Nov. 5.