ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Albany County has a new district attorney, for the first time in two decades. NEWS10 was at Lee Kindlon's swearing in ceremony where he shared his message for the public.
Lee Kindlon, a Marine Corps Veteran and former defense attorney was sworn in surrounded by friends and family. “It is the honor of my life to be standing before you today. I want to begin by first giving thanks to the men and women who got me here. To my wife and my boys,” said Kindlon.
Kindlon is Albany County’s 98th sworn-in District Attorney. “It is the district attorney who represents all the people in making the hard choices of who to prosecute and with what precise level of crime,” said Honorable Elizabeth Garry, Appellate division Third Department.
He beat out the incumbent of 20 years David Soares not once but twice. First in the June democratic primary and then in the November general election against the Republican, Ralph Ambrosio and Soares who mounted a write-in candidacy. “I promise you the Albany County District Attorney's Office is now uniquely qualified to take on the challenges ahead. First, we're going to reconstitute and recreate our bureaus to work on the matters most pressing to our communities,” stated Kindlon.
He plans to deliver on his campaign promises saying, “I'm going to appoint a Chief Compliance Officer and Ethics Council, fulfilling my campaign promise to bring accountability and transparency to the office.”
Bishop Avery Comithier of Elijah Missionary Baptist Church and the founder of Pastors on Patrol, the crime fighting group of religious leaders throughout the city, gave the invocation for the newly elected official. “Lee said when he's a district attorney, he still wants to go out. You know, as he did when he was campaigning. So, it wasn't just a campaign for him. It was what he wanted to do,” said Comithier.
The bishop tells NEWS10’s Reporter, James De La Fuente, he feels better days are ahead now that he is working with a new D.A. and the new interim, former police chief. “So far, it seems like it's all working together. The new chief and the D.A., they seem to have the same insight of the future, even though one is an interim. But we still have to start somewhere. And so far, it's all coming together. And I love it. I'm loving every moment,” said the bishop.
Kindlon says he is ready to officially take office, January 1st.
