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District attorney race is heating up

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With Election Day less than three months away, the candidates in Nassau County’s most high-profile race this year are stepping up their political appeals — and their attacks on one another.

Madeline Singas, the Democratic acting district attorney, and Kate Murray, the Town of Hempstead’s Republican supervisor, are locked in a battle for the D.A. post. Michael Scotto, a former assistant D.A. in Manhattan, is also seeking to challenge Singas in a Democratic primary, though the party has backed Singas. On Nov. 3, Nassau voters will elect the next D.A. to a four-year term.

It is the only countywide election in 2015, the result of former D.A. Kathleen Rice’s move to Congress in January. As the county’s chief law enforcement officer, the D.A. oversees a staff of hundreds of prosecutors. The candidates are honing their pitches to voters and campaign donors, and increasingly questioning one another’s qualifications for office.

Singas, of Manhasset, was Rice’s second-in-command for three-plus years, before which she led special victims and domestic violence bureaus in the Nassau and Queens D.A.s’ offices. She has been a prosecutor since 1991.

Murray, of Levittown, has been town supervisor since 2003 and is a former town clerk, state assemblywoman and assistant state attorney general. In the latter role she defended the state against prisoners’ lawsuits.

Scotto, of Port Washington, led investigations and rackets bureaus in the Manhattan D.A.’s office. He was a prosecutor from 1989 to 2012.

Singas described the election as “prosecutor versus politician,” referring to herself and Murray. “My opponent has never prosecuted a case,” she said. “She hasn’t done any criminal law. And she hasn’t practiced any law in 17 years. And we’re taking that message to the voters. It’s been resonating — you don’t become the top law enforcement officer to learn on the job.”

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