Spotlight on candidate Leslie Crocker Snyder
Continuing our Spotlight on Candidates series, I want to introduce you to Leslie Crocker Snyder - candidate for Manhattan District Attorney. With over 35 years of experience as a prosecutor, judge, and public servant, Judge Snyder has established herself as a bold and innovative leader in criminal justice reform.
A staunch advocate for women’s rights, during her nine years as an Assistant District Attorney, Judge Snyder founded the first Sex Crimes Prosecution Bureau and co-authored New York’s Rape Shield Law. Most recently, she wrote an op-ed piece for the Huffington Post, using the Chris Brown and Rihanna case to highlight the need for law enforcement reform in domestic violence cases.
Judge Snyder is also a vocal supporter of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community. As District Attorney, she promises to address the concerns of the LGBT community, starting with the hiring of openly LGBT staff and assigning an active liaison to the LGBT community. Snyder writes in the New York Blade:
“It has been decades since the Manhattan District Attorney’s office has engaged the gay community in a meaningful way. It is the District Attorney’s job to ensure that every citizen is treated fairly. This means that the District Attorney must listen to every community.”
Following the announcement by current District Attorney Robert Morgenthau that he would not seek a 10th term in 2009, the race has shaped up to become what the New York Times calls the “first seriously contested district attorney’s race in Manhattan in more than 30 years.” Judge Snyder first ran for this seat in 2005. Though she garnered the endorsement of the heavily influential New York Times, she was unable to unseat the well entrenched incumbent, winning approximately 42% of the vote.
Now poised to make comeback, Snyder faces a competitive primary against two former prosecutors, Cyrus Vance Jr. and Richard Aborn. Due to the heavily leaning Democratic composition of the borough, the winner of the September primary will likely also determine the general election outcome. Stay tuned for more about Leslie as her race continues to gain momentum.
Tags: candidate, district attorney, domestic violence, leslie crocker snyder, LGBT, manhattan
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 at 3:56 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
