Spitzer Responds to Russell Simmons on Drug Laws

Russell Simmons went on NY1 News last night to announce his support of Barack Obama for president, and took the opportunity to attack Eliot Spitzer for not doing more on Simmons’ pet issue: reforming prison sentences for drug offenders.

Today in Genesseo, Spitzer responded to a reporter’s question about the criticism.

Spitzer said, “We are trying to come up with something that will be reasoned and that will maintain safety. People should not forget we have seen a dramatic decline in crime over the years in New York State. And that is because, I can say this as a Prosecutor, we prosecute crimes and we are tough. We lock up those who are guilty. So we have to be very measured and reasoned in what we do and we will be.”

Here is a longer transcript of Spitzer’s response to the issue, which was emailed over by Spitzer’s spokesman:

Question:

Russel Simmons was on last night and was pretty critical of your stance on Rockefeller Drugs laws - as far as in his eyes, not doing enough to change things. He is pretty angry about that.

Answer:

Oh look it, here’s the thing. I have said for many years that we need reasoned smart Rockefeller Drug reform. We also need to keep our streets safe and therefore we are working through the Commission with the very best voices from both the world of prosecution and those who have been judges and those who are supportive of fundamental reform are trying to work through what we think are the best ideas would be. I understand the role of advocacy and Russel’s a friend. Somebody I have known for many years. He is there to push and that is good and that is wonderful. We are trying to come up with something that will be reasoned and that will maintain safety. People should not forget we have seen a dramatic decline in crime over the years in New York State. And that is because, I can say this as a Prosecutor, we prosecute crimes and we are tough. We lock up those who are guilty. So we have to be very measured and reasoned in what we do and we will be.

Question:

So it is just a matter of these things taking time?

Answer:

Well, sometimes it has taken time. Sometimes you need to figure out what actually is the right answer because we have had incremental reform with the Rockefeller Drug reforms. A lot of the A1’s became A2’s. It is a complicated sentencing structure. We’ve done some of the easy stuff and it gets more complicated and requires greater thought as we go down the line.