News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Oct. 11, 2013: I’m shocked that Mr. Charles Hynes, current District Attorney, (DA) of Kings County, (Brooklyn), NY has re-entered the race for Brooklyn District Attorney as a Republican.
This comes after he was resoundingly defeated by Mr. Ken Thompson in the Democratic primary by a margin of 55 percent to 44 percent. Mr. Hynes, who has always claimed to be a Democrat, has been DA for over twenty years. Last month, the people of Brooklyn voted for change. No-one is indispensable. The will of the people must be respected and allowed to prevail.
In conceding defeat, Mr. Hynes told the people of Brooklyn that he will invite Mr. Thompson to move into his office soon to begin the transition.
The Daily News quoted Mr. Hynes as saying “We want a smooth transition… We will probably meet in the end of September, early October to begin the transition and make sure the public safety needs of this county are given top priority.”
What has happened in the intervening period? Is it that the reality of the election of Mr. Ken Thompson has evoked an elitist sense of entitlement to this office?
Everyone has a right to stand for election to any office of their choice. But it is disappointing to see someone whom we’ve grown to respect and whose word we ought to trust, make this insidious flip-flop for political and other expediencies. This defiance of the will of the people and betrayal of their trust is Bloomberg like!
Although I strongly condemn his silence and inaction on recent police murders, I had enormous respect for Mr. Hynes. Indeed our community had. He has been accommodating to the concerns of CGID and the wider Caribbean community. He has done a lot for criminal justice in Brooklyn; from fighting against racial bigotry and bias in Howard Beach, to implementing pioneering programs in domestic violence and alternative sentencing for youthful offenders. This perfidious somersault has irreparably sullied his image, legacy and integrity.
It is a fatal mistake to, in an overwhelmingly Democratic county like Brooklyn, assume the mantle of the Republican Party. The Republican Party is perceived to be a party of bigotry whose mission is to destroy the Presidency of Barack Obama, destroy opportunities for immigrants, take away the voting rights of African Americans and Hispanics and take away assistance and services for the poor.
After running as a Democrat for over two decades, Mr. Hynes’s decision to reincarnate himself as a Republican has shattered his credibility with West Indians and Brooklynites. He, himself, is screaming out to us from the mountain-top that he cannot be trusted. Take heed Brooklyn!
EDITOR’S NOTE: Rickford Burke is president of the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy, (CGID).
