The Nassau County Republican Party nominated Garden City resident Anne Donnelly as their candidate for district attorney in a special election this November.
She will face Democrat Todd Kaminsky to fill the district attorney seat formerly held by Madeline Singas, who was confirmed by the state Senate to the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, on June 8.
Donnelly, 56, has worked in the district attorney’s office for more than three decades and currently serves as the deputy chief of the Organized Crime & Rackets Bureau. Donnelly also spent 12 years prosecuting violent felonies, including two prominent murder-for-hire cases that resulted in convictions, according to the Republican officials.
“I am delighted to be a candidate for Nassau District Attorney,” Donnelly said in a release. “I have dedicated my career to keeping the public safe and prosecuting those who commit crimes. I want to be the district attorney in order to protect Nassau County residents from dangerous criminals who pose a threat to society.”
As the deputy chief of the Organized Crime & Rackets Bureau, Donnelly prosecutes defendants with connections to large-scale illegal operations such as money laundering and oversees the prosecution of all computer crimes throughout the district attorney’s office, officials said. Donnelly also serves as the liaison to the county’s Correctional Center and spent time as the acting chief in the Public Corruption Bureau, deputy chief of the Economic Crimes Bureau and a senior trial assistant in the Rackets Bureau.
Republican Party Chairman Joseph Cairo praised Donnelly, who earned her law degree from Fordham University in 1989, for her three decades of service in the DA’s office as a reason voters should choose her over Kaminsky in the special election.
“Republicans have put forth a candidate who has dedicated her career to keeping the public safe and putting dangerous criminals behind bars,” Cairo said in a statement. “Her opponent, on the other hand, is a political opportunist who has spent his time in Albany writing ‘get out of jail free’ laws to turn loose more dangerous inmates onto our streets.”
******Kaminsky, who announced his candidacy in late June, attended law school at NYU and spent a decade working as a prosecutor on the federal and state levels. He worked as an assistant district attorney in Queens County under FIRST NAME Singas in the Domestic Violence Bureau. Kaminsky later served in the Eastern District of New York as an assistant U.S. attorney and acting deputy chief of the district’s Public Integrity Section.
“As DA, I will protect our families from violent crime, taxpayers from fraud and corruption, and the human rights of every New Yorker,” Kaminsky said. “Let’s get to work.”
Campaign spokesman Rich Orsillo said Kaminsky will continue to fight for Long Islanders if elected in November and did not comment on the Republican’s nomination of Donnelly.
“Todd Kaminsky is a fearless prosecutor who has put violent criminals behind bars and led the convictions of corrupt politicians from both parties—and his record is second to none,” Orsillo said in a statement. “As district attorney, he will continue to protect Long Islanders and be a tireless champion for Nassau County, delivering again and again for our families without being beholden to party bosses.”
State and county Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs implored voters to remind themselves of the “old adage ‘you don’t bite the hand that feeds you’” when choosing Nassau’s next district attorney.
“[It] should come to the minds of every Nassau Voter when deciding who they would like to protect their taxpayer dollars and keep our County safe from corruption. It sure won’t be the machine’s handpicked candidate,” Jacobs said in a statement.
The two are running to fill the district attorney seat formerly held by Madeline Singas, who was confirmed by the state Senate to the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, on June 8.
Singas, the former DA and a Manhasset resident, filled a vacancy on the Court of Appeals left by Judge Leslie Stein, who retired last week, and will take a 14-year term on the court. Singas was succeeded by Joyce Smith, a longtime assistant district attorney and special victims prosecutor, who is the county’s first black district attorney.
