Pubdate: Mon, 14 Oct 2002
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Shaila K. Dewan
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?140 (Rockefeller Drug Laws)

GOLISANO TO TAKE TO AIRWAVES TO CONDEMN ROCKEFELLER LAWS

Staking out a far more sweeping position on the Rockefeller drug laws than 
either of his opponents in the race for governor, Tom Golisano will call 
today for the laws' repeal, his campaign aides said.

Mr. Golisano, the Independence Party candidate, has said as much before, 
with little fanfare. But now, he will back up his statement by broadcasting 
commercials that accuse Gov. George E. Pataki of offering a Rockefeller 
plan that is "not real reform."

Campaign aides would not say exactly how much Mr. Golisano, who has already 
spent nearly $40 million on his bid for the governorship, will spend on the 
new ad campaign. But, Roger Stone, Mr. Golisano's campaign adviser, said, 
"Everyone will know his position by the end of the week."

"Tom Golisano is the most conservative candidate in this race, and he is 
acknowledging that the Rockefeller laws are harsh, ineffective and 
expensive," Mr. Stone said, noting that more than $700 million is spent 
yearly to incarcerate drug offenders. "We are hopeful that his position 
will give others now the cover they need to get these laws repealed."

While Mr. Golisano's candidacy is considered a long shot by most political 
professionals, he has raised several issues, including higher education and 
the upstate economy, that have broadened the agenda of the campaign. The 
drug laws' critics see the commercials as an opportunity to revive an issue 
that has slipped somewhat from the public eye.

"The issue will really be aired out," said Randy Credico, the organizer of 
the Mothers of the New York Disappeared, a group that has lobbied against 
the laws. "The only time people are reminded of the Rockefeller drug laws 
is when someone in the news media writes one of these horror stories. Now 
they'll be reminded daily about the horrors of the Rockefeller drug laws."

The laws impose lengthy mandatory minimum sentences on even first-time, 
nonviolent drug offenders. Efforts to amend them are stalled in a situation 
not atypical of Albany politics: everyone professes to agree that the laws 
are too harsh, but no one agrees on what to do about it.

H. Carl McCall, Mr. Pataki's Democratic challenger, has accused the 
governor of failing to live up to his promise to change the laws 
substantially, and Mr. Pataki in turn has blamed the Democratic leaders of 
the State Assembly for refusing to compromise.

The principal difference between the Assembly plan, which Mr. McCall 
supports, and the governor's plan is that the Assembly would give judges 
greater discretion over which offenders would receive treatment instead of 
prison time.

Advocates for change have hoped that the impending election would pressure 
Mr. Pataki into a compromise, especially since the governor seems intent on 
winning over Latino voters. Nine out of 10 people imprisoned under the laws 
are black or Latino.

But the debate in Albany has been over the degree of change, and advocates 
have long been told that outright repeal of the laws is a political 
impossibility. Like Mr. Golisano, Andrew M. Cuomo, who ran against Mr. 
McCall in the Democratic primary, called for abolishing the laws.

Mr. Golisano's commercials, in both English and Spanish, will feature 
people who were imprisoned under the laws and their family members, 
including Hilda Garcia, who has blamed Governor Pataki for her husband's 
death in prison, at age 68, after he was denied clemency for his crime of 
acting as a lookout for a drug gang, which earned him a sentence of 15 
years to life.

Mr. Golisano will release a detailed position paper today that emphasizes 
treatment over incarceration for nonviolent, first-time offenders, and that 
advocates redirecting law enforcement resources toward apprehending 
kingpins instead of low-level drug offenders, Mr. Stone said.
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