Does He Deserve One?
By Dan Murphy
Westchester District Attorney Anthony Scarpino will face a democratic primary challenge in 2020 from Mimi Rocah, who lives in Scarsdale and has been an MSNBC legal analyst and former federal prosecutor. Rocah was described by one Westchester democrat as “someone who can give Scarpino a serious challenge.”
Rocah, who served as a federal prosecutor for more than 16 years in the Southern District of New York – including running the Department of Justice’s Westchester office under President Barack Obama, kicked off her campaign last week on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. After leaving the DOJ, Rocah became an MSNBC legal analyst where she provides insight on issues related to the impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump and various other legal issues relating to this administration.
“I believe in public service, and have been a public servant most of my career,” she said. “At this critical moment in our nation’s history, we need to step up at every level of government to combat hate and ensure justice for all. In the words of my friend and former boss, Preet Bharara, I have always tried to ‘do the right thing, for the right reasons, in the right way.’ As a prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, that meant standing up for victims – prosecuting illegal gun dealers, human traffickers, child predators and corrupt politicians to keep our communities safe. Now, the opportunity to run for Westchester district attorney is a chance to do even more for my community and I am excited to announce my candidacy today.
“From gun violence to the opioid epidemic, public corruption to violence against women, Republicans in Washington are refusing to act and are making a mockery of the rule of law. Here in Westchester, we can fight back by electing a district attorney ready to transform the office into one that invests in crime prevention, builds trust with the community, ensures fairness for everyone in our justice system, respects the rule of law and holds everyone who violates the law accountable – even the rich and powerful.”
Most recently, Rocah was the Pace University School of Law’s distinguished fellow in criminal justice and a legal analyst for MSNBC and NBC News. From 2001 to 2017, she served as assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, and from 2012 to 2017, she served as co-chairwoman of the White Plains division. Prior to that role, Rocah was the Southern District’s chief of the Organized Crime and Racketeering Unit, as well as chief of the General Crimes and Narcotics Units.
As a prosecutor, Rocah received numerous DOJ awards, most recently the 2016 Women In Federal Law Enforcement Leadership Award. She has also served as the school safety chairwoman at her local elementary school and has been part of numerous forums in Westchester on sexual and domestic violence, and online child predators.
Rocah lives with her family in Scarsdale.
During an interview with LoHud, Rocah said she is running because of the “hateful policies” and “attacks on the rule of law” by Trump and U.S. Attorney General William Barr. “I’ve said this on TV and I’ll probably say it again many times: We have a criminal in the White House right now,” said Rocah. “We have a corrupt head of the Department of Justice. That’s where we need to fight this fight and I don’t think we’re doing everything we can in Westchester to address that.”
The question that Westchester voters need to ask is: What, if anything, has current D.A. Anthony Scarpino done or not done to address the problems that the vast majority of Westchester voters have with the president.
In the view of this reporter, and based on 25 years covering prior Westchester district attorneys including Jeanine Pirro and Janet DiFiore, we find Scarpino to be more about the business of getting the work of the office done, and that is prosecuting cases in the county and keeping the people of Westchester safe.
We have not seen a rash of press releases, or puff pieces, from his office because that is not his style. Scarpino is a former FBI agent, State Supreme Court judge and surrogate judge who has a proven record of honesty and accomplishment, and the fact that he doesn’t promote himself to the extent that other D.A.s have should not be used against him, or as a reason to run against him.
Rocah also said: “I think the idea of having more women in positions – elected positions, positions of power – deciding how the levers of power are used is really something that people feel passionately about and it doesn’t matter whether it’s your school board or a local or county or state office. Right now, people understand that our democracy is at stake and every elected office matters.”
The race for district attorney is now held during a different year than the other two county-wide offices of county executive and county clerk. That is because a special election was held in 2016 when former D.A. Janet DiFiore left to become chief judge of the NYS Court of Appeals.
Scarpino won the 2016 election, easily defeating Republican Bruce Bendish. Moving forward in all county-wide elections, the winner of the democratic primary, or the democratic nominee, should easily defeat the republican candidate.
