Bail reform has been one of the most contentious issues in New York. The Covid-19 pandemic – and the state and national response to it – continues to be the biggest issue in the United States and will be for months or longer.
So it is no surprise that both issues would find their way to the campaigns of two people seeking to represent a part of Western New York in the state Legislature.
Incumbent Democrat Patrick B. Burke, a former Erie County legislator who is wrapping up his first term in the Assembly, and Republican challenger Matthew S. Szalkowski, an assistant district attorney in Erie County making his first run for public office, are facing off for the 142nd Assembly District seat.
The district covers West Seneca, Orchard Park, part of Lackawanna, most of South Buffalo, along with part of Buffalo’s First Ward, as well as the Valley and Kaisertown neighborhoods.
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Szalkowski, who has been a county prosecutor since 2013, said he was motivated to run for this office by the changes made to state law regarding the state’s bail system and rules for turning over evidence in criminal cases, a legal process known as discovery. They were passed in 2019 and that went into effect this year. Supporters described the changes as reforms intended to curb mass incarceration and reduce prosecutors’ strategic advantage.
Earlier this year, the Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreed to some tweaks to the law, including making more crimes eligible for bail.
Szalkowski said he was generally in favor of reforms.
“I did not think the previous system, as constituted, was perfect,” he said.
What the reform got right, according to Szalkowski, was where it started: Those accused of crimes should not have to start from a position where they are presumed to be immediately incarcerated. The problem arose when judges lost some discretion about which individuals may be kept incarcerated when the law made specific crimes ineligible for cash bail, Szalkowski said.
Some form of reform to the bail system was necessary, Burke said, noting the initial changes were made as part as passage of the state budget.
“We’re in a better place than we were initially,” he said, adding he will continue to look for ways to make the system better.
Szalkowski’s campaign has touted endorsements from several police unions. He participated in a news conference Oct. 12 that his campaign billed as being about “failed bail reform.”
Burke said he sees his opponent’s push to make bail reform an issue in the race as a scare tactic.
While bail reform is being portrayed as negatively affecting people’s lives, “in reality it’s Covid,” said Burke, who served as a county legislator from 2013 until elected to the two-year seat in the Assembly in November 2018.
Burke is critical of the Trump administration’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and while he said he doesn’t think the governor’s response to the pandemic within the state has been perfect, “I think we’ve done the best we could do under the circumstances.”
Szalkowski said the state Legislature was wrong to grant the governor emergency executive powers to deal with the pandemic for as long of a duration as they did – a full year. Instead, he believes they should vote on extending those powers every 30 days.
Burke bristled at the insinuation legislators have granted Cuomo too much authority. Under the measure that granted broad executive authority, the Legislature has the ability to reconvene and strike down individual actions.
