Do prosecutors running for judges seek to eliminate unfavorable votes through felony prosecutions? Richard Northrup of Delaware County is one of them

When a person is convicted of a felony, he or she loses not only his liberty or right to possess guns.  A felony conviction also carries a prohibition on the right to vote.  Whether it is legal or not, constitutional or not, is a big question, but that's how the State of New York applies it anyway.

In this respect, an interesting question arises.

When a prosecutor is running for a judicial office, he or she is competing for a better-paying job, so there is a definite financial incentive there.

Moreover, where a prosecutor who is up for re-election every 4 years (in New York) is running for 10-year (and better-paid) job, that is yet another financial incentive, involving also a better job security.

A criminal prosecutor, if he or she remains in office as a criminal prosecutor while running for a judge, handles a caseload of felony cases.

Each one of criminal defendants charged and prosecuted by such a prosecutor/judicial candidate is a potential voter.

Each one of the criminal defendants, as of the date the prosecutor announces that he or she is running for a judicial office, may claim that the prosecutor has a financial interest in the outcome of litigation, and the prosecutor's failure to resign and continuing on the case irreversibly taints the case and requires its dismissal.

Considering that judges IN THEIR MAJORITY come from prosecutors, think how many people were convicted in such tainted cases, simply because prosecutors wanted to eliminate votes through felony convictions.

By the way, the conflict arises also when the prosecutor is running for re-election to the same office, because the same criminal defendants that he prosecutes at the time of his or her campaign for re-election are potential voters against the prosecutor's re-election.

Such a conflict disqualifies not only the District Attorney him/herself, but the entire DA's office since the whole office answers to the DA and is subordinate to the DA.

I suggest that criminal defendants raise the issue that Delaware County DA Richard Northrup disqualified himself, his office and tainted all felony prosecutions in his office's caseload when he announced running for a judge, but did not resign from his DA's position.

But, of course, we cannot expect any such act of integrity from the current DA.  After all, it is risky to leave one job without securing another yet.  Conflicts of interest, constitutional rights of criminal defendants and rights of taxpayers not to pay extra for re-litigation of tainted criminal cases be d***ed.

Meet the "hero" - picture was posted by Porter Kirkwood on his judicial campaign Facebook website and constitutes public record.

Richard Northrup is on the left.  He looks calm, dignified, even refined.  Yet, his actions are far from any of those things.  Beware.