Benjamin Franklin And Marty Golden Couldn’t Disagree More
Why The Brooklyn DA Race Matters As Much As Any This November
To summarize Senator Golden's argument, he cites the recent incident on the West Side highway, where a motorcycle gang terrorized Alexian Lien and his family, as the reason to support Joe Hynes. The subtext here is be afraid, scary things happen in this city.
Mr. Golden concludes the article by leveraging that fear as a reason to support stop-and-frisk in it's current form and therefore Charles Hynes.
Mr. Golden leaves out the part where police officers were part of the motorcycle gang, both as witnesses, and one as a participant in terrorizing this unsuspecting family.
Mr. Golden fails to mention how stop-and-frisk in it's current form would have prevented this incident and others like it. Similarly, Mr. Golden fails to demonstrate how stop-and-frisk is keeping us safe here in Bay Ridge.
Mr. Golden fails to draw a clear connection as to how the Brooklyn DA would play an important role in stopping crimes like this one in Manhattan.
Finally, Mr. Golden fails to acknowledge that this horrific incident and others like it have taken place during DA Joe Hynes tenure with stop-and-frisk in it's current form. If these two things were truly keeping us as safe as Mr. Golden suggests, he wouldn't be able to cite these traumatic incidents to draw upon our fears.
No. Mr. Golden's ill conceived campaign ad posing as an op-ed simply says "be afraid, and now that you are, vote for Joe Hynes."
To be clear, Ken Thompson, candidate for Brooklyn DA who already defeated Charles "Joe" Hynes in the democratic primary, does not oppose stop-and-frisk. He simply believes that we should ensure that such stops have reasonable suspicion and that they are in accord with our constitutional rights and the Supreme Court's opinion on this matter.
Here is where Benjamin Franklin comes in. Franklin is famously quoted as saying "He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither."
Suspicion-less stop and frisks do not fight crime, but they do violate our constitutional rights and our freedoms as New Yorkers and as Americans.
Our support for Ken Thompson stems from his equal dedication to preserving both our constitutionally protected rights AND for keeping our communities safe. As District Attorney, both of these priorities are equally important, for as Benjamin Franklin notes, failure to preserve both guarantees that we will have neither.
