I Missed this on Tuesday

Incumbent Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes was soundly defeated in the primary by Ken Thompson.

The reason that I have an interest in what would ordinarily be a very local race is because there is a huge Haredim (ultra-orthodox Jewish) community, particularly the Satmar, and many of the leading rabbis threw their support behind him.

When juxtaposed with the very soft touch applied by to the Hynes' office toward the Orthodox community, the implication of an electoral quid pro quo is hard to avoid.

Thompson is saying that they will have a, "DA's office, where there will be one standard of justice for all, no matter where you come from, no matter how much money you have," which I think is a pretty obvious shot across the bow regarding the pattern of aggressive threats toward witnesses in the Haredi community.

As an aside, I think that Hynes had an inkling that he might lose, because we have some credible allegations that one of his assistants, the, "scandal-ridden A.D.A. Michael Vecchione," has been removing files from the office for the past few days, allegedly to prevent Thompson from reviewing them and referring them to the Bar or a court of law.

If Thompson can break the Omerta of the Orthodox community, it would be a very good thing.