Leslie Crocker Snyder

It's eleven months before the 2009 elections and Manhattan district attorney candidate Leslie Crocker Snyder is rolling out her endorsements.

At a press conference this afternoon on the City Hall steps, Crocker was joined by unions representing law enforcement groups that are endorsing her candidacy. The groups are:

NYC Detectives’ Endowment Association
NYPD Captains Endowment Association
NYPD Lieutenants Benevolent Association
NYPD Hispanic Society
Policewomen's Endowment Association
New York State Court Officers Association
New York State Supreme Court Officers Association
New York State Court Clerks AssociationMetropolitan Transportation Authority PBA
Port Authority DEA
Port Authority PBA
Port Authority SBA.  

Crocker is trying, again, to unseat Manhattan D.A. Robert Morgenthau, who will be 90 years old next year. He said he's running for re-election, but if he doesn't, attorney Cyrus Vance said he'll enter the race. 

Manhattan District Attorney candidate Cyrus Vance is having a fund-raiser at Caroline’s comedy club tonight. (How many jokes about A-Rod and divorce lawyers can you fit into one night?)

Vance has already hired Bill Lynch Associates and Cindy Darrison for his campaign, but maintains that he’ll only run if Morgenthau does not seek reelection. Also looking to run for the seat is Morgenthau's 2005 opponent, Leslie Crocker Snyder.

Andrew Cuomo's campaign got an assist today from toughbox prosecutor Leslie Crocker Snyder, who bashed Jeanine Pirro for her refusal to revisit the case of a Westchester inmate later freed on DNA evidence.

From Cuomo's perspective, Pirro's blunder is almost too perfect, allowing him -- with his scant 14 months of courtoom experience -- to hit his opponent on the one area she was counting on to be a comparative strength. Or, at least, to stand back as others do so.

Around 2:30 p.m., a statement on the case was sent out by Snyder, who was last seen running for Manhattan DA against Cuomo's old boss, Robert Morgenthau.

Around 3 p.m., Cuomo's statement came out, in which he states his support "of legislation which would prevent this type of wrongful incarceration of an innocent man, while a guilty sexual predator and murderer went unpunished for his crime."

All of which, I'm guessing, will be more than enougth to keep the story alive for another day.

Crocker Snyder statement after the jump.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

On a recent Wednesday evening, Robert M.  read more »

Rush-hour straphangers trudged, bleary-eyed, from the I.R.T.  read more »

Usually, the death penalty is an axe conservatives swing at liberals.

But in Manhattan, the death penalty is anathema, and Bob Morgenthau appears to think it will cut deep against Leslie Snyder, who supports it in some cases. Today, he accepted the endorsement of the Innocence Project's leaders.

The real fight, though, is in the mail. The stark image of an electric chair, showing up in mailboxes around Manhattan, is hard to miss. The piece's bottom line: "Leslie Crocker Snyder does not share our values."

And Morgenthau's campaign has sent on the latest installment of this theme as well: the needle.  read more »

But that electric chair seems to be what has them talking in the mailrooms of the Upper West Side.

Well, the Times's endorsement of Leslie Crocker Snyder did get Bob Morgenthau's attention. His ad, drawing attention to her greatest weakness -- her record as a tough, sometimes conservative, pro-death penalty judge -- went up instantly.

Snyder is pushing back with an amusing new ad called Breath, taking shots at Morgenthau and mocking his refusal to debate.  read more »

And maybe that will get some traction. When I was on yesterday with WNYC's judicious Brian Lehrer, I was a bit surprised by how exercised Brian was with the DA. Morgenthau, he told his listeners, was "ducking" requests for an interview, and wouldn't "deign" to face Snyder.

As Jason Horowitz and I reported a few weeks ago, and as most of the people who read this site know well, the Times editorial page is probably the single most powerful player in city politics, and an unquestioned force in Manhattan. Today, Collins & Co. surprised everyone by endorsing Leslie Crocker Snyder for Manhattan District Attorney.

Without taking anything away from the independence of the Times staff, in retrospect Snyder's campaign seems to have been aimed almost entirely at a single audience: The Times editorial board. The campaign consisted, at first, of a long string of policy proposals that got no press coverage at all, and seemed -- politically -- kind of pointless. Domestic violence, alternatives to incarceration, community courts, etc. Worthy, but they weren't getting her any votes. Now it appears that the theory among Snyder's advisors over at Klores was that if Leslie could be presented as a legitimate candidate -- with ideas torn from the pages of Times editorials -- the Times would be open to the argument for change.

One correspondent notes: "As you guys reported, there are zillion consultants who prepare candidates for editorial board meetings. Yeah, that's important. But maybe more important is what you do for literally months before, even when cameras are not showing up."

Scott Stringer, who launched a reformist push comfortably in advance of this year's election, could also be seen as having waged a long, successful campaign for the endorsement.  read more »

All in all this year, the Times edit board does seem to be feeling its oats a bit. Partisans of Anthony Weiner, in particular, hope their candidate will benefit from the new mood up on the 11th floor.

Here's another reason for Leslie Crocker Snyder to take on D.A. Bob Morgenthau, from the New Yorker's piece on the race. It's an exerpt from Morgenthau's 1978 recommendation of Snyder to the mayor's commission on judicial selection: "Mrs. Snyder has a pleasing presence and is well-spoken."  read more »

Leslie Crocker Snyder was never much one for taboos.  read more »