To the editor:
I wholeheartedly support Andrea Harrington for district attorney for her well-balanced legal experience, good character and leadership qualities. I believe Berkshire County is best served by a DA who will exercise evidence-based decision making along with regularly tracked and reported data—a DA who will utilize transparency rather than back-room deals.
The acting DA’s most recent mailer acknowledges that his office has only recently begun tracking and monitoring domestic violence cases, and only just started addressing cultural and racial bias. After touting 30 years in the DA’s office, does “just now” demonstrate leadership to major issues plaguing our community for decades?
It’s been reported that North Adams and Pittsfield have extraordinarily high crime rates. We continue to read the deaths of our children, relatives, friends and neighbors from the drug epedimic, escalating gun violence, and domestic violence and sexual assault at alarming rates.It surely indicates a time for change, a time for a collaborative approach to criminal justice by someone with a clear vision of how to achieve safe and healthy communities, and especially one with the ability to lead.
I encourage voters to support Andrea Harrington for Berkshire County district attorney—the progressive Democrat with the tenacity to achieve change.
Marie T. Harpin
North Adams
The writer is a North Adams city councilor.