Elect Todd Kaminsky Nassau County district attorney

The most hard-fought, and nasty, race in Nassau County this election season has been the contest for district attorney, pitting Democrat State Sen. Todd Kaminsky against Republican Anne Donnelly. Both have been running scathing television ads accusing each other of being responsible for freeing prisoners.

But the bad-mouthing began with the Republicans, who see the D.A.’s race as their best chance to capture a powerful seat in county government and were first to air the scathing ads. In our view, Kaminsky is the better of the two candidates.

The State Legislature passed the bail-reform measure in 2019, restricting the use of cash bail and pretrial detention in misdemeanor and nonviolent felony cases. It also gave judges discretion to assign bail in almost all violent felony cases and certain nonviolent cases, such as witness tampering. 

The law, however, was amended in 2020. Kaminsky voted for the amended law, which gives judges bail discretion in a greater number of cases.

In her TV ads, Donnelly accused Kaminsky of writing the bail-reform bill. This was untrue. Kaminsky voted for it but was not its author.

This issue constituted most of the campaign for district attorney. That is a shame, because there are other issues that demanded the attention of both candidates. Kaminsky, a veteran state senator, while having to defend himself against these false allegations, did bring up other matters, including the need for stronger gun control legislation and a woman’s right to chose in the growing debate over abortion.

Kaminsky has proven himself to be an able state senator, particularly when it came to an issue of great importance to his South Shore constituency – the environment. He is chairman of the State Senate Environmental Conservation Committee and did author the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, an aggressive climate change program that puts New York on the road to carbon neutrality and a green energy economy. He has been in the forefront of a fight to regulate carcinogenic contaminants in Long Island’s water supply and has been able to pass legislation banning products containing toxic substances. He secured billions of dollars for clean-water systems.

While Kaminsky’s environmental record is enviable, the question is, does this make a good prosecutor? Anne Donnelly argues that she is the law-enforcement professional. She has been a career prosecutor with the Nassau D.A.’s office for 32 years and served as deputy chief of the Organized Crime and Rackets Bureau.

Certainly, such service is admirable. But in an interview with the Herald, Donnelly revealed that she resigned from the D.A.’s office to run for the top job, and that she had little to lose, since if she lost the race, she would likely be out of a job. 

Kaminsky, who became a state senator in 2016, worked as an assistant district attorney in the Queens district attorney’s office before joining the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of New York.  He prosecuted elected officials who used taxpayer dollars to support their lifestyles, including former State Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr., Jimmy Meng, a member of the State Assembly, and Michael Grimm, a member of Congress.

In our view, Kaminsky offered some fresh ideas to improve the D.A.’s office. He promised to crack down on hate crimes at a time when anti-Semitic and racist acts are rising in New York. He promised also to go after corruption in Nassau, whether perpetrated by Republicans or Democrats, and swore to improve trust in government at a time when that is sorely lacking.

Kaminsky has also vowed to work harder with federal law-enforcement officials to defeat the rise of gang violence in Nassau. But he said he wants to go deeper, and that would be working with communities and schools troubled with such problems. 

Our view is that Todd Kaminsky, given his background in both government and the U.S. attorney’s office, would make an excellent choice for Nassau’s district attorney. We give him our wholehearted support, and voters should as well.