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| ABELOVE |
In one of the most egregious displays
of political payback I have ever seen, District Attorney Joel Abelove did not contest
a request by Rich Crist, a longtime Republican operative, to dismiss charges of
harassment and endangering the welfare of a child.
Crist was arrested for a July 11,
2014 incident involving his 17-year-old son, the culmination of a months-long
disciplinary issue with the boy that included law enforcement. I’m told the kid
took the family car for the night against the parents’ wishes and when Crist caught
up with him in the parking lot of the Castleton Elementary School it became
physical.
According to the Times Union,
Child Protective Services determined there was nothing to warrant the violation
harassment charges and the misdemeanor endangering charges stem from children
who witnessed the incident in the parking lot of the Schodack school.
It was a weak case from the get go
and the charges probably should have been dropped. But not by Abelove. Crist is
one of the reasons Abelove beat Carmelo Laquidara for the seat he now holds.
As the TU astutely points out, Crist
helped Abelove win the Independence Party primary. On that line, Abelove
received 1,596 votes on Election Day. He won the election by 492 with 45,470
cast.
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| CRIST |
As such, Abelove should not have
touched the case at all. But, Crist’s attorney, William Dryer, made a motion to
dismiss the charges and Abelove didn’t challenge the motion in Sand Lake Town Court.
The judge is not mentioned in the TU article but the case was bounced around a
bit in an effort to find an objective jurist given Crist’s political activity in
Rensselaer County. But there are two Democrats on the bench in Sand Lake.
Crist makes $95,000-plus in his official
role as the legislative liaison for the Republican majority, a position he’s
held for some two decades. He is also the GOP’s most prolific operative, is the
party’s de facto chairman and has a consulting business on the side. In the past he has come under fire for
allegedly doing political work out of the county office building using county
staffers. He has worked as a consultant on a number of judicial and other races
including those for statewide office and congress. He also serves as the
Schodack Republican town chair.
There is no record of Abelove
paying Crist for political work at the state Board of Elections but Abelove has
not filed his January, 2015 disclosure statement yet either.
Abelove told the TU he saw no
reason to recuse himself because most of the work on the case was done before
he took office.
"And, he was not directly
involved in heading my campaign," Abelove told the TU of Crist.
But Arthur Glass, who was acting
DA until Abelove was sworn in on Jan. 1, said there should have been a special
prosecutor appointed.
"You don't even want to give
the impression of any impropriety," Glass to the TU.
Too late for that.
