He fought the law ... and he won: David Soares' election as District Attorney marks a turning tide against New York's Rockefeller Drug Laws.(q & a)(Interview)

On Nov. 2, 2004, voters in Albany County, New York elected David Soares their new District Attorney. A 35-year-old Cape Verdean immigrant, Soares unseated incumbent District Attorney Paul Clyne in the Democratic Party primary on Sept. 14; then, running on both the Democratic Party and Working Families Party ticket, Soares handily won the general election with 56 percent of the vote. Soares had been a prosecutor in Clyne's office for five years and earned a reputation with Albany residents by developing a Community Accountability Board as an alternative to the courts.

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A grassroots electoral coalition of unions, community organizations and clergy rallied around Soares and his goal of reforming New York State's notoriously racist, punitive and ineffectual Rockefeller Drug Laws. Supporting intervention, drug treatment and prevention, Soares mobilized community sentiment and sent a warning message to prosecutors around the state that drug reform had become a viable electoral issue. Soares' election also sent shockwaves through the statehouse. As chief prosecutor in the state capitol, Soares is responsible for addressing government corruption on Capitol Hill.

In a victory message to supporters, Soares wrote, "The voters have demanded that the Rockefeller drug laws must be reformed. Every district attorney in the state clinging to these archaic laws will hear today's results. The voters have had enough. The legislature must act and the recalcitrant DAs must get out of the way, or go the way of the Albany County incumbent." In recent weeks, the New York State Assembly has passed the first-ever reforms of the Rockefeller Drug Laws.

Why was reforming the Rockefeller Drug Laws so central to your campaign?

Because the Rockefeller Drug Laws smack of everything that is offensive, especially when you are talking about the criminal justice system. The image of the criminal justice system is Themis, and she has a scale, a blindfold and a sword. It is supposed to be just. If we lose faith in the criminal justice system, then what do we have? We have chaos. The Rockefeller Drug Laws are offensive to the image of Themis. We know that [the drug law] acts negatively on African Americans and Hispanics so disproportionately that the fact that it is still on the books today makes you wonder. I don't like to look at this in terms of race so much, but to say here is an issue that is important to everyone. Addiction is something that affects everyone, whether it is crack cocaine or alcohol. Most people, whether it be immediate family or a cousin, have that experience; they know what damage addiction does to families. So to have a system that treats addiction in the way that it does, so disproportionately, is wrong. Everyone rallied around that message.

How were you able to buck the trend of politicians, especially prosecutors, running on a message of "lock 'em up" ...