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| Liz Crotty for DA, June 22 |
One of the positions up for a vote is Manhattan District Attorney. The incumbent, Cy Vance, has announced he is not going to run again. He has his hands full finishing up some high-profile cases.
This post is an endorsement of a candidate for the Manhattan DA nomination, Liz Crotty.
I am posting this endorsement for two reasons.
First, I attended the endorsement meeting of my local club and I was not given an opportunity to vote. I still don’t understand how that happened. But it means I am a free agent here, which is a good thing, because I strongly support Liz Crotty.
Second, I have known Liz for many years and I think highly of her. She grew up in Stuyvesant Town, an egalitarian complex on the east side of Manhattan near Baruch College, where I used to be an assistant professor of finance. She is the centrist in this primary and I wish we had more candidates who were prepared to take that stance.
I got to know New York City pretty well in the mid-1970s through the mid-2000s as a finance professor, then the CEO of an urban-policy think tank, and then chief economist for three New York City Comptrollers. Liz Crotty grew up during that period in New York City, and she knows how big an impact crime and civil unrest had on the city during that period. Liz says she experienced the scare of having to run into a Safe Haven Program store. She had to escape predatory men. Someone she knew was the victim of a stabbing.
She graduated from Fordham Law School, and in 2000, she began her six-year career at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office when Robert Morgenthau was Manhattan DA, until 2009.
I am a fan of the Morgenthaus, father Henry and son Robert. My Dad was hired by Henry Morgenthau, Jr. via a competitive civil service exam he took in 1933. Thousands of candidates took the test, and Morgenthau hired just three hundred for the Farm Credit Administration. Morgenthau was put in charge of that agency instead of being in the cabinet as Secretary of Agriculture, because the farm lobby objected to having someone Jewish like Morgenthau heading the agency. Instead, in 1934 FDR appointed Henry Morgenthau Jr. to the position of Secretary of the Treasury (there were also objections to that appointment, but FDR by then was on a roll and paid less attention to complaints about his appointments). I am writing the biography of Henry Morgenthau’s predecessor as Secretary of the Treasury, Will Woodin.
In her six-year stint as an Assistant District Attorney, Liz served first in the Trial Division. She worked on more than three thousand cases altogether. Her Trial Division cases involved street crimes, attempted murder, kidnapping, assault, burglary, robbery, and drug sales, as well as complex crimes like forgery, grand larceny, identity theft, and money laundering. Liz was known for investigating and resolving matters—whether by trial or plea, before both judges and juries.
After serving more than four years in Trial (Bureau 70), Liz moved into the Investigation Division, expanding her legal skills. For two years in the Investigation Division, Liz worked on complex white-collar cases on the local, national, and international levels.
After leaving the Manhattan DA’s Office, Liz worked in civil law on complex international investigations and litigations, involving aviation litigation, wrongful death, negligence, and product liability.
Liz started her own criminal-law firm twelve years ago. She and her partner built a law firm that, represents people throughout New York City and around the world, to help them receive justice. Liz represents people on crimes ranging from grand larceny, fraud, assault to rape, DWI, and weapons possession. A zealous advocate who fights aggressively for her clients, Liz is also well reasoned, approachable and personable.
She can see ways to make the District Attorney’s Office perform better. However, she understands the only way to improve the office is with a practical plan. Her plan starts with ensuring the office is prioritizing every New Yorker’s hope for public safety, because each neighborhood and community needs to feel that the District Attorney’s Office is tackling their concerns. That means it must be responsive to every community in Manhattan, as well as working with the police to ensure they are protecting us with dignity and honor.
Liz is admitted to New York State Courts and the Federal Southern and Eastern Districts of the New York. She currently serves as a board member for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Association, a not-for-profit alumni organization of the Manhattan DA’s Office. In addition, she serves on the New York City Bar Association’s Judiciary Committee, evaluating judicial candidates for election. Most recently, she was a judicial delegate to the NYC Supreme Court judicial convention.
She is a trained Mediator, having completed the Mediation Training at the NY Peace Institute. In addition, she volunteers with the CFI Project, which assists recent immigrant arrivals requesting political asylum and prepares them for their credible fear interview. Liz is also a volunteer on the pro-bono panel in New York’s Southern District.
On June 22, or possibly before, I plan to vote for Liz Crotty for DA.
