A longshot candidate for Manhattan district attorney says growing alarm over violence in the Big Apple gives him a fighting chance to become the first Republican to hold the office since 1941.
Thomas Kenniff’s platform largely opposes the criminal justice reforms pushed by progressive Democrats in Albany in 2019. He calls bail reform policies “homicidal” and is against Gov. Hochul’s Less is More act, which eased punishments for technical parole violations. He even has a plan to bring a “Broken Windows” approach to arraignments.
“There’s no question that this is a place where Democrats far outweigh Republicans,” he told the Daily News. “I’m not running for Republicans, I’m not running for Democrats, I’m not running for Independents. I’m running to be a stabilizing force for a city that right now is in chaos.”
A former Westchester prosecutor and Iraq war vet, Kenniff, 42, insists he’s no Trump-style Republican. He touts policies similar to those embraced by longshot GOP candidate for mayor Curtis Sliwa — minus the bombast and obsession with animal rights.
Kenniff, who lives in Oyster Bay, L.I., insists he is a viable candidate — despite Republicans being outnumbered by Democrats roughly eight to one in Manhattan.
Kenniff says he would push to repeal bail reform laws, which he blames for a rise in violent crime.
He says his Democratic rival Alvin Bragg, who’s raised $2.7 million to Kenniff’s $55,000, as of July this year has “extreme views” and cares more about defendants than victims.
“Based on my lived and professional experiences, I’ve outlined detailed plans to make our city safer and more just. We deserve and demand both, and that has been the focus of my career, and indeed, my life,” Bragg said in response.
Kenniff says he’d push for bringing back the NYPD’s plainclothes anti-crime units, which were dogged by accusations of using heavy-handed tactics in Black and Latino communities. Anti-crime teams were involved in many high-profile police shootings, including the the 2018 shooting of Crown Heights man Saheed Vassell and the friendly-fire shooting of Officer Brian Mulkeen in 2019.
The defense attorney, who has his own practice, has proposed a “broken windows-type prosecution policy,” which would require a psychiatrist to be present at every arraignment shift in the city.
Kenniff said mental health professionals could advise judges on whether to have defendants who appear mentally ill committed for 72 hours, even if they’re charged with bail ineligible crimes. He cited the recent hatchet attack at a lower Manhattan ATM, where a mentally ill Iraq War veteran allegedly hacked a Mexican immigrant.
“We need to have the ability to incapacitate dangerous individuals, whether they’re mentally disturbed or just violent,” he said.
“The person who just committed a turnstile jump, but we’re putting back on the street while they’re suffering from audible and visual hallucinations, may commit the next hate crime at the ATM up the block.”
The GOP-endorsed candidate says he’s more like Robert Morgenthau, a Manhattan DA for 35 years, than Cy Vance Jr. He characterized the three-term incumbent as a “disappointing” leader who bowed to public pressure by choosing not to seek bail for people accused of nonviolent crimes.
Kenniff also ripped Vance for his decision to not prosecute Harvey Weinstein in 2015 after Ambra Battilana Gutierrez said the producer had sexually assaulted her.
“I’ve literally defended versions of that case, where it is a strict he said, she said,” he said.
Kenniff insisted his party affiliation would not affect his handling of the DA’s prosecution of former President Donald Trump’s eponymous real estate company and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg.
“I am going to look at that case the same way I will look at any of the other thousands of cases that I am assured of inheriting,” said Kenniff.
“I’ve never met Donald Trump. I’ve never met any members of his family. I’ve never supported him in any way — with money or anything like that — and he’s sure as hell never done anything for me.”
