Pirro: Unlike Dems, GOP doesn't want child molesters next door
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/...gion-apnewyork
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By MARC HUMBERT
October 19, 2005, 4:24 PM EDT
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Jeanine Pirro, a Republican district attorney looking to unseat Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, came under fire Wednesday for portraying Democrats as coddlers of child molesters and murderers.
During a speech to Chemung County Republicans on Tuesday night, Pirro continued her criticism of the Democratic-controlled state Assembly for its refusal to adopt legislation that would civilly confine violent sex offenders after their prison sentences end.
"That's a difference between Democrats and Republicans _ we don't want them next door molesting children and murdering women," said the Westchester County prosecutor, according to Wednesday's Elmira Star-Gazette newspaper.
That drew a sharp rebuke from the Clinton camp, and a demand for an apology.
"Ms. Pirro's comment is an affront to common decency and an outrageous insult to the five and a half million law-abiding Democrats in our state," said Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson. "With statements like these, Ms. Pirro's campaign is rapidly going from an embarrassment to a disgrace."
Pirro's campaign manager, Brian Donahue, said Wednesday the district attorney does not believe Democrats want sexual predators living next door to anyone.
"This quote is out of context," he said.
"She's conveying a sense of frustration associated with it because she believes that unless this legislation is passed, we are allowing sex offenders to prey on the innocent," the Pirro aide added.
Donahue said Pirro believes the legislation "is being held up for partisan reasons by the Democratic leadership."
State Assemblyman David Koon, a Rochester-area Democrat whose 18-year-old daughter was kidnapped, raped and murdered in 1993, called Pirro's comments "total malarkey."
"Civil confinement should be out there, but it doesn't define Republicans and Democrats," Koon said, adding that "there are a lot of Democrats out there who believe in it."
Pirro's comments to the Chemung County GOP dinner came a few hours after she unveiled the first advertisement of her campaign, a 60-second radio spot that promotes the adoption of civil confinement legislation. The legislation has been passed in New York's GOP-led state Senate repeatedly in recent years, but has never been allowed out of committee by the Assembly's Democratic leadership. A number of other states have adopted civil confinement laws, and the concept has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
While Pirro's radio ad doesn't attack the Assembly Democrats, she did criticize them during her Albany news conference as she unveiled the spot.
"As a result of the lack of leadership in the Assembly ... innocent women and children are at risk," she had said.
Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines said the senator supports civil confinement of sexual predators.
Pirro has made civil confinement a major point of her campaign, along with the claim that Clinton simply wants to use her Senate re-election race as a stepping stone to a 2008 presidential run.
Pirro's two-month-old campaign has had teething problems. Her announcement tour was plagued by technical and logistical issues. She recently sent a fundraising letter to "Hillary Clinton" at the White House, and she trails far behind the former first lady in money raised. On Friday, Clinton reported raising $5.3 million over the three-month period ending Sept. 30. Pirro has raised $438,555 since entering the race Aug. 8.
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