Kennedy, Markey face tough questions on their political records in criminal justice forum
U.S. Sen. Edward Markey and U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III faced tough questions on criminal justice reform — and on their political records — during a virtual forum Tuesday as voters begin to cast ballots in the increasingly close Senate primary.
Markey was asked what he would do differently in the case of D.J. Henry — a 20-year-old Black man from Easton who was shot to death in 2010 by a cop in New York — after his father released a video Monday blasting the senator for failing to help the family seek justice.
“I strongly support the Henry family’s efforts to reopen the case,” Markey said, reading almost verbatim from a statement his campaign had already released to reporters.
Markey said he apologized to Henry’s family after Danroy Henry Sr. posted the video on Twitter. On Tuesday, he sent a letter to Justice Department and New York officials urging them to reopen the case based on “new evidence.”
Markey was also forced to confront his vote in favor of the 1994 crime bill critics have blamed for mass incarceration.
“The reason that our entire delegation voted for it was for the first time, there was a Violence Against Women Act provision built into the law. There was also a ban on assault weapons,” Markey said. “But yes, without question, those sentencing provisions were wrong.”
Kennedy, who is waging an increasingly tough campaign to unseat Markey, was pressed on his record of endorsing establishment politicians over their progressive challengers in Massachusetts. Kennedy backed U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano over Ayanna Pressley and state Rep. Jeff Sanchez over challenger Nika Elugardo in races both incumbents ultimately lost.
Kennedy called Capuano a “mentor” and noted Pressley’s first job was for his father.
“It was a very tough choice, and ultimately I made a decision to support Mr. Capuano because I thought that leadership was important in Massachusetts,” Kennedy said, noting Markey didn’t endorse in the race. “I never for a second doubted that Congresswoman Pressley would bring to Massachusetts.”
Kennedy was also pushed to “reconcile” his law enforcement ties — including his time as a prosecutor in the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office and having Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins as a campaign advisor — as activists call for “community-led alternatives to the judicial system.”
“I ran for office in the first place because I saw the ways in which our system was failing our people,” Kennedy said.
Markey and Kennedy agreed on many of the issues raised in the back-to-back sessions hosted by the WGBH Forum Network, the Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University and the Justice Reform Coalition, moderated by Andrea James of Families for Justice as Healing and that included questions from formerly incarcerated people.
Both lawmakers have put forward legislation to boost police accountability since the police killing of George Floyd.
On Tuesday, they each said they would support voting rights for the incarcerated and ending solitary confinement. And both called for ending life sentences without parole, a shift for Kennedy who previously said he supported the measure only for juveniles and nonviolent cases while “heavily restricting” its use in other cases.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2C4iw7C
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