The decision to endorse the re-election of Madeline Singas, a Democrat from Manhasset, is an easy one based on both her performance in her first term and the thin resume and extreme views of the candidate put forward by county Republicans.
In Singas’ first term, crime in Nassau reached record lows, making it the safest large county in New York.
This is obviously not all Singas’ doing. Many factors can account for this performance, including strong police work. But it is clear Singas played no small role.
This work included diversion programs for persons suffering from addictions or mental illness. She has also taken asset-forfeiture money to fund a program that takes those who overdose on narcotics from an emergency room directly to a residential recovery facility.
Singas worked with federal law enforcement to send 17 top MS-13 gang members to prison as the number of homicides in Nassau declined from five in 2017 to one in 2018 to none in 2019 thus far.
Singas, who worked for 15 years in Queens as an assistant district attorney before being tapped by then-District Attorney Kathleen Rice to head her office’s newly created special victims unit in 2006, becoming her top assistant and then running successfully for district attorney, is also well-positioned to implement a new state criminal code.
Her challenger, Francis X. McQuade, a libertarian from Long Beach asked to run by the Republican Party, is long on ideology and short on experience.
He cites his four years as a police officer for the Village of Ocean Beach on Fire Island and his work as an immigration lawyer as the kind of experience needed to be district attorney. We disagree.
A former Roman Catholic priest, McQuade cites his primary reason for running to be abortion rights, the restriction of Second Amendment rights and his desire to restore respect for the police.
He calls Singas an extremist for supporting a woman’s right to choose and accuses her of being a George Soros liberal – a trope often associated with anti-Semitic smears. McQuade denies the connection.
Although McQuade says he supports universal background checks, he said he opposed red-flag laws and his support of bans on assault weapons depended on the definition of assault weapons.
He also said his call to restore respect for the police was based on Singas bringing assistant district attorneys into her Nassau office who he claims have shown less deference to the police on what charges to file against those arrested.
We think McQuade would be a better fit on talk radio than running the district attorney’s office.
By contrast, Singas has established herself as a smart, tough district attorney who has served Nassau well.
Blank Slate Media endorses Singas.
