Cuomo Declines to Appoint Successor for Brooklyn District Attorney
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Version 0 of 1. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Monday that he would not appoint a successor to Ken Thompson, the Brooklyn district attorney who died of cancer this month. The decision paved the way for Mr. Thompson’s chosen interim to run the office until elections are held next year. “While we continue to mourn the loss of District Attorney Kenneth Thompson, the important work of the Brooklyn district attorney’s office does not cease,” Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, said in a statement, noting that Mr. Thompson had worked tirelessly to ensure that his office would “advance justice and treat everyone and every case fairly and with utmost integrity.” “We must continue that work without interruption or delay,” the governor continued. Mr. Cuomo’s decision put to rest fevered speculation and behind-the-scenes maneuvering to replace Mr. Thompson, a Democrat who became the borough’s first black district attorney when he was elected in 2013. Mr. Thompson died on Oct. 9. He was 50. Acknowledging that Mr. Thompson had “established a new model” by focusing on initiatives like the exonerations of those convicted of crimes they did not commit, Mr. Cuomo said, “His legacy should be the continuation of that model and his selection of the person who should run the office in his absence — his No. 2 — should be honored.” That man is Eric Gonzalez, Mr. Thompson’s chief assistant and the first Latino to hold the office of district attorney in New York State. Mr. Gonzalez, a career prosecutor, was the architect of some of the programs that enabled his boss to become a national model for prosecutorial reform, assisting Mr. Thompson in deciding not to prosecute many low-level marijuana cases. Mr. Thompson’s unexpected death not only stunned his colleagues and the public, it also set in motion a brief but aggressive succession fight that had implications for New York City politics. The fight continued — indecorously, some said — even during Mr. Thompson’s funeral on Saturday. A host of city, state and federal officials attended the service, including Mr. Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch, Representative Hakeem Jeffries and Eric T. Schneiderman, the state attorney general. Mr. Gonzalez was also there, joined by Letitia James, the city’s public advocate, whose name had been floated as a leading candidate to replace Mr. Thompson. “I am deeply honored to be able to carry out District Attorney Thompson’s vision of equal justice for all in Brooklyn,” Mr. Gonzalez said in a statement, “and I pledge to continue his criminal justice reforms. I am fully committed to the important initiatives that we have put in place and will work every day to keep the people of Brooklyn safe. I thank Governor Cuomo for having the faith in me to carry on the important work of this office.” During the funeral, held at the Christian Cultural Center, a megachurch in East New York where Mr. Thompson had worshiped, the subject of succession was discussed in low tones. But one person present at the service, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to convey what were private conversations, said many of the mourners were quietly mulling the future. The Brooklyn district attorney’s office is the third-largest local prosecuting agency in the country, and the vacancy left by Mr. Thompson’s death was widely thought of as a political plum. Support for Ms. James largely came from a small group of power brokers and elected officials from her political base in central Brooklyn. But allied against her in support of Mr. Gonzalez were many longtime employees of the district attorney’s office, the borough’s Hispanic community and several prominent members of the Brooklyn bar. In declining to name a successor from outside the office, Mr. Cuomo followed a path he had taken when vacancies arose in district attorneys’ seats in the Bronx, on Staten Island and in Westchester and Nassau Counties. Though Mr. Cuomo said in his statement that “keeping the first deputy in place when there is midterm vacancy” was “consistent with past practice under this administration,” the effort to sway him was fast and, by all accounts, fierce, including letters addressed to him personally from the Puerto Rican Bar Association and from the president of the Kings County Criminal Bar Association. |