Kathleen Rice sent over a release detailing her plan for a “just New York,” which includes a program to divert all money saved from prison closures into non-violent drug offender rehabilitation programs and reversing the state’s elections laws to allow parolees the right to vote.
“New York has long been the refuge of the oppressed and exploited,” Rice said in the release. “It is the role of the next attorney general to protect that legacy by better protecting the rights of all New Yorkers.”
Rice defeated a long-time Republican to win her seat in suburban Nassau County in 2005, and her opponents are trying to tar her as the “Republican” in the Democratic primary, particularly for her opposition to (or, as her backers see it, muted support for) Rockefeller Drug Law reform. Rice was also a registered independent (and prior to that, a Republican) before mounting her first campaign in 2005.
This plan is clearly meant to push back on that perception, highlighting her desire to reform the criminal justice system, strengthen the state’s human rights law, and protect workers and the disabled.
