He fought the law ... and he won: David Soares' election as District Attorney marks a turning tide against New York's Rockefeller Drug Laws.

On Nov. 2, 2004, voters in Albany County, New York elected David Soares their new District Attorney. A 35-year-old Cape Verdean immigrant, Soares unseated incumbent District Attorney Paul Clyne in the Democratic Party primary on Sept. 14; then, running on both the Democratic Party and Working Families Party ticket, Soares handily won the general election with 56 percent of the vote. Soares had been a prosecutor in Clyne's office for five years and earned a reputation with Albany residents by developing a Community Accountability Board as an alternative to the courts.

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A grassroots electoral coalition of unions, community organizations and clergy rallied around Soares and his goal of reforming New York State's notoriously racist, punitive and ineffectual Rockefeller Drug Laws. Supporting intervention, drug treatment and prevention, Soares mobilized community sentiment and sent a warning message to prosecutors around the state that drug reform had become a viable electoral issue. Soares' election also sent shockwaves through the statehouse. As chief prosecutor in the state capitol, Soares is responsible for addressing government corruption on Capitol Hill.

In a victory message to supporters, Soares wrote, "The voters have demanded that the Rockefeller drug laws must be reformed. Every district attorney in the state clinging to these archaic laws will hear today's results. The voters have had enough. The legislature must act and the recalcitrant DAs must get out of the way, or go the way of the Albany County incumbent." In recent weeks, the New York State Assembly has passed the first-ever reforms of the Rockefeller Drug Laws.

Why was reforming the Rockefeller Drug Laws so central to your campaign?

Because the Rockefeller Drug Laws smack of everything that is offensive, especially when you are talking about the criminal justice system. The image of the criminal justice system is Themis, and she has a scale, a blindfold and a sword. It is supposed to be just. If we lose faith in the criminal justice system, then what do we have? We have chaos. The Rockefeller Drug Laws are offensive to the image of Themis. We know that [the drug law] acts negatively on African Americans and Hispanics so disproportionately that the fact that it is still on the books today makes you wonder. I don't like to look at this in terms of race so much, but to say here is an issue that is important to everyone. Addiction is something that affects everyone, whether it is crack cocaine or alcohol. Most people, whether it be immediate family or a cousin, have that experience; they know what damage addiction does to families. So to have a system that treats addiction in the way that it does, so disproportionately, is wrong. Everyone rallied around that message.

How were you able to buck the trend of politicians, especially prosecutors, running on a message of "lock 'em up" and "getting tough on crime"? How were you able to talk about alternatives to incarceration without looking soft on crime?

I think by appealing to the core American value of opportunity. You hold people accountable, but you also provide opportunities for people. This is America. The fact that we have to be reminded of that at times, I think it's cause for concern, especially given the last four years of the Bush administration where it has been about division, sound-bites like "weapons of mass destruction," terror, terror, terror ...

And fear

And fear. I think people are tired of that. And I knew people were tired of that because of our contacts at the doors. So when you are knocking on doors, and you are spending time talking with people--even at the supermarket when you are standing there engaged in idle chatter--there is something in the message that they are saying. They are complaining, but when people get above and beyond the venting, they are saying something new. I just think it was the right time for me to run.

You mentioned talking to constituents at the doors and in supermarkets, etc. How important was the grassroots part of the campaign? How were you able to involve communities that are negatively impacted by the Rockefeller Drug Laws?

I can say this with confidence because I was born in a different country. In the United States there is so much focus on what separates us and not enough on what really brings us together. Public safety is something that concerns everyone; it doesn't matter what your color. I think when you talk about real safety, when you talk about opportunities for non-violent offenders, when you are talking about a better way of using resources available to us, putting more money into education instead of locking up 17,000 people to the tune of $5 million a year, what's not sensible about that? And that message resonates with everybody. Rockefeller was an important issue because it wasn't just about drug law reform; it was about two systems of justice. It was about disproportionate effect on the economically challenged. It was about sensible reform in terms of where we are putting our money. In Albany County we are experiencing another 28 percent tax increase. That's the message you want to give to people when you are running a campaign: how this is going to impact on their lives. It is about finding that message that resonates with all people. And if you are in conversations with more people you will find it.

So what's the first thing on your agenda?

Everyone hates guns. Right now, what we have in Albany County are a lot of youth who are killing each other over disputes that once you and I might have thrown rocks over in the schoolyard. But they're not throwing rocks; they're throwing bullets. That's problem with me.

Libero Della Piana is the editor of RaceWire, an ethnic press news service.