DA candidates take swings at each other
Nneji, Kavanagh trade accusations during Chamber breakfast
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Candidates for Ulster County District Attorney came out swinging during an Ulster County Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting Tuesday, with the two candidates — both seasoned prosecutors — accusing one another and the district attorneys they worked under — of mismanaging the office and creating a hostile work environment.
Former Chief Assistant District Attorney Michael Kavanagh and current Chief Assistant District Attorney Emmanuel Nneji are vying for the office now held by David Clegg. Clegg, a Democrat, was elected to the post in 2019, defeating Kavanagh by 78 votes. Clegg opted not to seek a second term.
Kavanagh told the roughly 200 business leaders attending the event that he hadn’t originally planned to run a second time.
“And then the next three and one-half years happened,” he said referring to Clegg’s tenure in office. “During that time, the District Attorney’s office has been a disaster,” he said. “They’ve had problems after problems and they’ve been very public,” Kavanagh said, noting that three of the last five murder cases tried by the office ended in acquittals.
“I’ve never lost a murder case in my entire career,” Kavanagh said.
He also said that in the past year, 14 cases handled by the Public Defender’s Office alone, where Kavanagh works part-time, were dismissed discovery violations and “failure to prosecute.”
Nneji placed much of the blame for the disarray in the office on what he called the “Carnright/Kavanagh” administration, which he called “the most degrading administration in Ulster County history.”
He leveled a series of allegations, without offering any specifics, of alleged misconduct in the office, including claiming that an assistant district attorney threatened another with a weapon, an assistant district attorney was caught naked in a bar and of a “Monica Lewinsky issue” in the office. He also said that the number of cases prosecuted under Carnright dropped drastically and that assistant district attorneys bilked the taxpayer by showing up late to work and leaving early.
Nneji also criticized Carnright
and Kavanagh for not implementing the protocols needed for the office to respond to new discovery laws that drastically reduced the time that prosecutors have to turn over evidence to the defense.
“The Carnright administration degraded that office and Mike was part of that degradation,” said Nneji, who was a senior assistant district attorney under Carnright.
Carnright could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
“I don’t even know what to say. I have no idea what to say,” responded Kavanagh to the litany of allegations.
“So, I guess we can just look at the results. That office was healthy, it was happy. We had a bunch of very dedicated, hardworking people. I’m sorry that
Mr. Nneji decided to besmirch that office. Now we understand why so many assistants left. Because that’s the way they were treated by the new administration.”
In the first several months after Clegg took office, there was significant turnover among the staff, with both the majority of the seasoned assistant district attorneys as well as many of those hired by Clegg resigning from office.
Kavanagh said it was the state, not the county, that was responsible for putting into place the new systems for responding to the discovery laws and said the office continues to have problems adhering to those requirements, resulting in cases continuing to be dismissed.
Asked what changes each would implement if elected, Nneji said he would continue to make certain the office continues to prosecute violent crime while using its discretion in cases that don’t involve violent crimes or danger to the community to seek alternative punishments.
“The fact that we have a hammer does not necessarily mean you get to see everything as a nail,” Nneji said.
Kavanagh said that, if elected, he would immediately institute training for newer prosecutors in the office and hold assistant district attorneys accountable for the handling of cases they are assigned.
“I will bring leadership,” said Kavanagh.
On the opioid epidemic, Kavanagh said that he would work to prosecute drug dealers while using drug court and alternatives to incarceration as a way to get people who commit crimes to feed their addictions the treatment they need.
Nneji blamed the county’s opioid crisis on Carnright and Kavanagh, saying the opioid problem would not be there if they had “vigorously prosecuted drug cases from the start.”
He too, said he would utilize drug court and alternative programs to help the addicted and would lean on the Oracle program in the Sheriff’s Office, which responds to overdoses and works to get substance abusers into treatment.
Early voting begins on Oct. 28. Election Day is Nov. 7.