Herald Endorsement

Madeline Singas is the one for Nassau County district attorney

Posted

Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas has done the job. Her opponent, Francis McQuade, a Republican, has some legitimate complaints about her performance, but they are minimal compared with what Singas has achieved. She has accomplished much of what she said she would when she first ran for the position four years ago.

From taking down the gang MS-13 to devising a multi-pronged effort to attacking the heroin and opioid epidemic, Singas, who has 30 years of law-enforcement experience, and her army of prosecutors have been successful. According to state statistics, crime is down 25 percent overall in the past five years in the county.

Working with the Nassau County Police Department and other law enforcement agencies, including the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, the D.A.’s office has arrested and convicted several MS-13 members, including what Singas called the highest-ranking member on the East Coast.


By recruiting the best and brightest prosecutors, she has helped ensure that as part of the war against heroin and opioid addiction, major drug traffickers have been taken off the streets. Overdose deaths are down 20 percent in the past two years.

And it’s not only on the enforcement side that she has done well. Using forfeiture money taken from criminals, Singas has funded the expansion of Maryhaven’s New Hope Center, in Freeport, into New York’s first 24/7 drug crisis center, which serves as a bridge between emergency-room treatment and placement in long-term treatment facilities.

The D.A. has shaped educational programs aimed at school-age children, to teach them about the pitfalls of drug addiction and how to withstand gang recruitment. She has also promised to continue prosecuting corrupt public officials, no matter their political affiliation.

McQuade’s criticisms — attributing the decline in crime to shifting demographics and trying to discredit Singas for promoting youthful assistant district attorneys to bureau chiefs are trivial at best when you consider the scale of the problems Singas is battling. She is the Herald’s clear choice for re-election as district attorney.