Pubdate: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 Source: Times Union (Albany, NY) Copyright: 2005 Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation Contact: http://www.timesunion.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/452 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n149.a04.html Author: Warren Redlich Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?140 (Rockefeller Drug Laws) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) CUOMO'S ARTICLE ON DRUG POLICY DISAPPOINTS Andrew Cuomo's op-ed article on drug policy ("Prison inmates, Republican constituents," Jan. 19) was disappointing. The impact of inmate populations on political districts is a phony issue. There are approximately 72,000 inmates in our state prisons. While that number is far too high, it is smaller than the population of an Assembly district and trivial when it comes to political districting. One might ask where Andrew Cuomo was when his father did nothing about drug policy reform. Federal drug sentencing is often harsher than the Rockefeller Drug Laws, yet Cuomo never criticized Bill Clinton for doing nothing. If drug policy reform is a Democrat issue, why isn't Eliot Spitzer challenging it in court? Instead, Spitzer's office enthusiastically participates in the prosecutions. Cuomo's solution -- judicial discretion -- is also phony. While some judges exercise their discretion in favor of leniency, others impose harsher sentences than the minimums. Judicial discretion leads to arbitrary sentencing. Real drug policy reform restores discretion to people. That brings us to Andrew Cuomo's real purpose. He's playing hatchet man for his party -- trying to turn Gov. George Pataki into the latest boogeyman. It's political games, raising the other guy's negatives. I'm not satisfied with the latest reforms, but the current crop of Democrat proposals are not that different. If Cuomo and Spitzer want to embody the drug policy reform movement, let them embrace its mantra -- no one should go to prison for what they put in their body. WARREN REDLICH, Guilderland The writer was the 2004 Republican candidate for 21st Congressional District of New York. - --- MAP posted-by: Jackl