Kathleen Rice

Kathleen Rice
Nassau County District Attorney
Incumbent
Assumed office January 1, 2006
Preceded by	Denis Dillon
Personal details
Born	Kathleen Maura Rice (1965-02-15) February 15, 1965 New York City, New York
Political party	Democratic
Residence	Garden City, New York
Alma mater	Catholic University (B.A.) Touro Law Center (J.D.)
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Roman Catholic
Website	District Attorney Website Campaign Website

Kathleen Maura Rice (born February 15, 1965) is the Nassau County, New York District Attorney. She was elected in 2005, defeating 31-year incumbent Denis Dillon. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Prior to serving as District Attorney, she served as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia and as an assistant district attorney in the Kings County District Attorney’s Office in New York City.

Rice announced on January 29, 2014, that she will run for Congress in 2014 in New York's 4th congressional district to replace retiring Democratic incumbent Carolyn McCarthy.^[1]

Early life, education, and career

Rice was born in Manhattan, New York to Laurence and Christine Rice. She grew up in Garden City, on Long Island, as one of 10 siblings. Rice graduated from Garden City High School. She received a B.A. from The Catholic University in 1987 and a J.D. from The Touro Law Center in 1991.^[2]

Rice began her career as an assistant district attorney in the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, under District Attorney Charles Hynes in 1992. She prosecuted cases involving burglaries, robberies and sexual assaults and was the first member of her class to be promoted to the homicide bureau.

In 1999, Rice was appointed assistant United States Attorney in Philadelphia by then-Attorney General Janet Reno. As a federal prosecutor, she prosecuted white-collar crimes, corporate fraud, gun and drug cases, and public corruption.^[3]

Nassau County District Attorney

Rice was elected Nassau County District Attorney in 2005, when she upset 31-year incumbent Denis Dillon. Rice was re-elected in 2009 and 2013 despite widespread Democratic defeats in the county.

Tenure and issues

Plea bargaining and crime

When she ran for office in 2005, Rice promised that she would cut plea-bargaining in violent felony cases and make sure that more violent criminals went to prison. Rice has pursued that effort throughout her time as Nassau County District Attorney and has run on that record in her subsequent re-election battles.^[4]

Drunken and drugged driving

Kathleen Rice has been recognized as a national leader in the fight against drunken and drugged driving. When Rice came into office in 2006, she declared her first major policy initiative to be an “assault on the drunk driving epidemic.” She lowered the blood-alcohol level at which you could take a plea bargain,^[5] fought for Leandra’s Law, and charged some drunk drivers who killed their victims with murder.^[6]

In 2009, Rice was featured on CBS’ 60 Minutes for her crackdown on drunk driving and her approach to charging DWI defendants with murder.^[7]

The New York Daily News has called Rice the “state’s toughest DWI prosecutor.” ^[8]

Reform efforts

Rice has been recognized as a leader in criminal justice reform.

In September 2011, Rice’s office arrested seven students after busting an SAT cheating ring on Long Island.^[9] When this case led to the discovery of a wider-spread cheating scandal, Rice worked with the College Board, who administers the test, to update security standards to halt cheating in the future. This effort sparked other test administrators, like that which gives the ACT, to update their standards as well.^[10]

Rice has also received credit for teen education programs geared towards cyber bullying, drug use, sexting and dangerous driving.^[11][12][13]

In 2007, Rice’s office, Nassau County and Hempstead (village) police led a multi-pronged counter-assault on Terrace Avenue, a major drug haven and crime-ridden street in Long Island’s Hempstead Village. By using a combination of zero-tolerance enforcement for repeat and violent offenders, and social-service based jail diversion for those willing to turn their lives around, Rice and the community’s partnership sharply drove down crime in the area.^[14] Rice’s effort was praised by the New York Times and she was hailed as someone who is “aggressive and innovative in tackling chronic problems.” ^[15]

In 2008, following the trampling death of a Walmart employee at one of the retailer’s Black Friday sales events, Rice was able to convince Walmart to upgrade its security protocols at its nearly 100 New York stores.^[16]

In 2012, Rice came out in favor of decriminalizing small amounts of “plain view” marijuana.^[17] Rice has also supported efforts to allow law-abiding citizens to seal prior low-level, non-violent convictions in the hopes of improving their chances of obtaining employment.^[18]

Rice was chosen by Governor Andrew Cuomo to be a member of the Moreland Commission on Utility Storm Preparation and Response, a panel tasked with investigating the failures of the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) following Hurricane Sandy of October 2012. The panel recommended that LIPA be replaced by a private, investor-owned company and that the Public Service Commission, which has regulation authority, be given more power to penalize and fine poor-performing utility companies. In July 2013, Governor Cuomo implemented many of the panel’s recommendations and announced that come the following January, LIPA would be phased out and replaced by Newark-based Public Service Enterprise Group to form a more effective and efficient power authority on Long Island.^[19][20]

Rice supports the “Raise the Age NY” initiative to treat non-violent teen offenders as juveniles rather than adults in the criminal justice system.^[21]

Guns, gangs, and violent crime

Rice has aggressively implemented gun buy-back programs in some of the county’s most crime-plagued areas. These events have taken more than 2,000 guns off Nassau streets. She also spoke out in favor of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s gun control legislation,^[22] and she created the office’s first ever gun prosecution unit.^[23]

In April 2013, Rice announced the arrest of 18 members of the “Rollin’ 60’s” gang, an “ultra-violent” subset of the Crips. Rice charged these defendants with crimes ranging from attempted murder of a police officer, to assault and robbery, to gun and drug sales.^[24]

Public corruption

Among those Rice has charged and convicted of corruption include a deputy police commissioner,^[25] a Long Beach City Council member,^[26] former Nassau County legislators,^[27] and several town building department employees.^[28]

In July 2013, Kathleen Rice was appointed by Governor Cuomo to be one of three co-chairs of the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption. The work of the commission is currently ongoing.^[29]

Rice formed Nassau’s first-ever Medicaid and public assistance fraud unit, which has since secured millions of dollars in restitution for Nassau taxpayers.^[30]

DA's Office gender pay gap and part-time employees

After becoming the first woman elected district attorney in Long Island’s history, Rice revamped the recruiting, hiring and promotional practices of her office. She started out by eliminating the age-old gender pay gap that had previously been greater than 30%. Rice developed the office’s first-ever policy aimed at offering flex-and part-time work schedules to those needing to care for a family member or a personal situation. Half the attorneys and management in Rice’s office are women.^[31]

Jesse Friedman case

In 2010, Rice ordered the review of a 1987 case in which Arnold Friedman and his son, Jesse, pleaded guilty to sexually abusing young boys in their Great Neck, Long Island home. Rice formed a panel of outside experts – including the Innocence Project’s Barry Scheck – to examine whether or not Jesse Friedman had wrongfully confessed. In a 172-page report released in July 2013, investigators found that Friedman had not been wrongfully convicted.^[32]

2010 Attorney General campaign

In May 2010, Rice announced that she would seek the Democratic nomination for New York State Attorney General. The race pitted Rice against four Democratic opponents: then-State Senator Eric Schneiderman, former prosecutor Sean Coffey, former State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, and former insurance commissioner Eric Dinallo. Though originally considered a long shot, Rice would narrowly lose the five-way primary to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, 34% to 32%.^[33]

President of DAASNY

In July 2013, Rice was inducted as President of the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York (DAASNY).^[34]

Electoral history

2005 election

In 2005, Kathleen Rice returned home to Nassau County and declared her candidacy for District Attorney on the Democratic line. Rice challenged 30-year incumbent DA Denis Dillon. Throughout the campaign, Rice provided an alternative to Dillon, pledging to cut plea bargaining and touting her would-be zero tolerance policy for drunk driving. Rice also committed herself to modernizing the office’s approach to domestic violence and crimes of sexual abuse. Rice edged out Dillon 51%-49% in the November election.^[35]

2009 re-election

In 2009, Rice was challenged by Law Clerk Joy Watson. Rice defeated Watson 54%-46%.

2010 Attorney General Democratic Primary

In 2010, Rice ran for Attorney General of the State of New York in the Democratic Primary.

2013 re-election

In 2013, Rice was challenged by Law Secretary Howard Sturim. Rice defeated Sturim 59%-41%.

Election results

See also

• List of District Attorneys by county

References

External links

• Nassau County District Attorney Website
• Campaign Website