Duly noted: Queens Democrats Veer ["]Left["] in Prosecutor Primary Race

Defeating the Democratic Party machine, defense attorney Tiffany Cabán landed one step closer Tuesday to fundamentally reshaping criminal justice in Queens [NY county, NYC borough]. The insurgent candidate for [NY] district attorney wants to end the drug war and decriminalize sex  work [BWAH!] in a borough known for the harsh prosecution of petty crimes.

Have I mentioned Staten Island lately? Borough "enclave"? "Amazon of" city unions? heh

In choosing Cabán, Queens Democrats issued a mandate for a radical departure from the policies of late Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, a tough-on-crime prosecutor who died in May at the age of 86.

hmm

Cabán vowed to swap these traditions for those progressive prosecutors such as Philadelphia's Larry Krasner

UPDATE 3 May 2009

running on a platform of reducing mass incarceration and eliminating racial injustice in law enforcement.

In many ways Cabán has gone farther than her predecessors, though, with her slate of ambitious proposals. She has called for prosecuting Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials for civil rights abuses in a borough whose population is larger than six states and includes immigrants from more than 100 nations.

wikiwtf map is kind of useless, if you're wondering about you-know-who. FYI: Long Island City isn't in NY-14. Name places roughly indicate municipal subdivisions (NYC council districts, 51 total). And the highway boundaries are a better fit with prevailing economic pain points.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.