Sleazy Bronx politics knows no bounds.
The Post’s Richard Johnson reported weeks ago that the fix was in for Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson’s appointment to a state judgeship — with the Bronx Democratic machine slipping its pick into the job. Now it’s official.
Johnson “happened” to wait until after winning his re-election primary to announce the move. So the party gets to replace him on the ballot with its own choice — without risking an open primary.
The machine will replace Johnson with another hack, Judge Darcel Clark. All with nothing close to a small-“d” democratic vote.
Of course, Johnson was the machine pick back in his day — and he’s performed that way. In 27 years, he has the lowest prosecution and conviction rates of the five city DAs.
Now he’s ignoring cases of violence in jail. As NY1 reports, a recent e-mail from a top Johnson aide tells prosecutors, “All felony arrests of inmates must be declined to prosecute if brought into the complaint room.”
Another e-mail lists multiple reasons to defer Rikers cases, including contraband violation — even weapons, apparently.
The reason? Johnson’s aide says, “Let’s not add any more to this until we can resolve the issues that are causing” a backlog of 70 cases.
This flies in the face of recent reforms to reduce the violence at Rikers. Inmates and correction officers remain in danger when the office in charge of prosecuting Rikers crimes will ignore even violent infractions.
To sum up: The Bronx Democratic machine is set to reward the man responsible for legal malpractice — and prevent the people from having a say in who replaces him.
Welcome to New York.