Pubdate: Tue, 17 Dec 2002
Source: Buffalo News (NY)
Copyright: 2002 The Buffalo News
Contact:  http://www.buffalonews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/61
Author: Tom Precious

RACIAL ISSUES RAISED IN BATTLE OVER DRUG LAWS

ALBANY - The battle over the state's tough, Rockefeller-era drug laws 
turned nasty Monday, with reform advocates claiming that race has played an 
issue in who is granted clemency each December by the Pataki administration.

With efforts to reform the laws still at an impasse, advocates have turned 
their immediate lobbying effort to persuading Gov. George E. Pataki to 
grant clemency to a few dozen inmates sentenced to long prison terms for 
nonviolent, drug possession charges under the 1970s provisions. New York 
governors traditionally grant clemency at the end of December.

But Randy Credico, one of the founders of Mothers of the New York 
Disappeared, a family group whose members include parents trying to get 
their children released from prison, accused Pataki of only granting 
clemency to one black male during his eight years in office.

"Make your own extrapolation," Credico said when asked if he was accusing 
Pataki of being racist. He said the Pataki administration's clemency 
process has had "a racial overtone and undertone to it."

The Pataki administration lashed out at Credico, calling his comments 
"disgraceful, shameful and wrong."

"He should be ashamed of himself for selling out the families to pursue his 
own political agenda instead of working with the Senate and governor to 
enact sensible reforms," said Pataki spokesman Joseph Conway.

Conway said dozens of families that Credico says he represents could have 
seen children or spouses released from jail had a Pataki plan for reforming 
the Rockefeller drug laws been approved.

Administration officials disputed Credico's claims that only one black male 
has ever gotten clemency since Pataki took office in 1995. Of the 26 
clemency requests Pataki has granted, three have gone to black males. 
Another six went to black women and seven went to Latinos.

"The bottom line is decisions are based solely on the facts involved in 
individual cases, not on the color of one's skin," Conway said.

Eighty percent of the state prison population is either black or Latino, 
according to the state Department of Correctional Services. Of the 66,710 
inmates, 33,653 are black, 19,865 are Latino, and 11,847 are white. The 
agency could not provide a breakdown by males and females.

The Rockefeller drug law issue has divided Albany for several years now. 
Pataki has made proposals to reform the law that has sent away thousands of 
individuals for nonviolent, drug possession convictions, but his proposals 
have fallen far short of what advocates and Democrats in the Assembly say 
is necessary.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, criticized Pataki and Senate 
Republicans for not coming to the negotiating table. With the state facing 
a multibillion-dollar budget deficit, he added a new reason: He said the 
Assembly's Rockefeller drug reform plan would save the state $160 million 
per year, mostly in prison-related expenses.

With Credico at his side in a Capitol press room, Silver sought to stay 
away from the race issue.

"I don't think anybody here called the governor a racist," Silver said.

But Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry, D-Queens, who also came into the press room 
along with family members of people convicted under Rockefeller drug laws, 
said the drug issue "is all about race."

Aubry said the issue is not about controlling drug use in society.

"It has to do with who gets policed for using drugs in society," he said of 
drug arrests that target minority neighborhoods.
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