***PRESS RELEASE***
County Legislator Chris Johnson Endorses Mimi Rocah for Westchester DA.
Johnson is latest to join growing diverse coalition of county leadership to back former federal prosecutor Rocah over incumbent for the June 23rd Democratic Primary.
WESTCHESTER, NY - Democrat Mimi Rocah, the former federal prosecutor running for Westchester District Attorney, has been endorsed by a fifth County Legislator -- Chris Johnson (D-16), whose district represents Yonkers.
“In light of the national conversation demanding police accountability and denouncing police brutality, I know our county's District Attorney needs to be a leader in ensuring critical criminal justice reforms, while building trust between the community and law enforcement. I believe that leader is Mimi Rocah and I am proud to stand with her to ensure she is elected on June 23rd,” said Johnson.
“I’m grateful to have County Legislator Chris Johnson’s support to bring real reform, true transparency and accountability to the DA’s office,” said Rocah. “Never has it been more clear that our criminal justice system is in dire need of new leadership and new ideas so we can keep our communities - ALL of our communities - safe while addressing critical issues like police accountability and racial disparities in our criminal justice system. ”
Johnson joins his colleagues in the County Legislature - Lyndon Williams, Alfreda Williams, Damon Maher, and Catherine Borgia - in endorsing Rocah over the one-term incumbent. Her support among county and party leaders has surged in the last few weeks, including a rousing message of support from Hillary Rodham Clinton during a virtual campaign rally last month where she urged Westchester voters to get out the vote for Rocah.
A political newcomer, Rocah stunned the Democratic establishment in January when she came within two percentage points of getting the party nomination and has since shown an impressive growing coalition of party leadership backing her to unseat incumbent Tony Scarpino.
In addition to a volunteer base of more than 100 grassroots activists, community and civic leaders, her endorsements include nine Democratic committees, the Working Families Party, 1199SEIU, Eleanor’s Legacy, Vote Mama, the Hispanic Democrats of Westchester, the Hudson Valley Stonewall Democrats, Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, Mt. Vernon City Council President Lisa Copeland, Mt. Vernon City Councilmembers Derrick Thompson and Delia Farquharson, New Rochelle City Councilwomen Martha Lopez-Hanratty and Yadira Ramos-Herbert, Yonkers Councilwomen Tasha Diaz and Shanae Williams, NY State Senator Alessandra Biaggi, feminist icon Gloria Steinem and former US Attorney and Westchester resident, Preet Bharara.
Rocah was Chief of the Westchester office for the Department of Justice for five of the 16½ years she was an Assistant US Attorney for the Southern District of NY. Recently, she was Pace University School of Law’s Distinguished Fellow in Criminal Justice and a legal analyst for MSNBC and NBC News, where she emerged as an outspoken critic of the Trump Administration and the president’s efforts to undermine the rule of law .
Having a close family member who had been a victim of violent crimes, Rocah has developed victim-centered, trauma-informed policies as someone who knows both sides of the justice system. As part of her campaign platform, she has released detailed plans to get guns off our streets, aggressively address the human trafficking and opioid crises, increase transparency, create a real Conviction Integrity Unit, tranform sex crimes prosecutions, investigate environemtnal crimes, and overhaul ethics reforms in the DA’s office. Last week, she released a workers’ rights policy that outlined plans for a Labor Crimes Bureau to address wage theft and workplace safety.
As a prosecutor, Rocah received numerous Department of Justice awards including the 2016 Women In Federal Law Enforcement Leadership Award. A resident of Scarsdale, she has served as a school safety chair at her children's elementary school, volunteered with Moms Demand Action on gun safety advocacy and worked with My Sister's Place on issues involving domestic violence, human trafficking and online child predators.
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