Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: William Wagstaff On Running For District Attorney In Westchester County, Future Police Reform More

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INTERVIEW: William Wagstaff On Running For District Attorney In Westchester County, Future Police Reform More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning.
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  Speaker 2: The Breakfast Club Power one O five one is the
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  Speaker 2: Breakfast Club. Good Morning, of course, the EJ N VJ
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  Speaker 2: Larius and Charlamagne the Guy. We got a special guest
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  Speaker 2: in the building. He's running to be the first black
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  Speaker 2: district attorney in Westchester County. Ladies and gentlemen, we have
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  Speaker 2: William Wagstaff.
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  Speaker 1: Welcome, brother, Hello, thank you, Thank you so much for
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  Speaker 1: having me. I really appreciate you guys sharing this powerful
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  Speaker 1: platform with me. I'm trying to do something that is
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  Speaker 1: not just important for Westchester County, but I believe that
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  Speaker 1: the vision that I have for this office is something
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  Speaker 1: that can be replicated around the country, focusing not just
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  Speaker 1: on incarceration, but focusing on the prevention of crime. There's
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  Speaker 1: so much lip service that's talking about let's incarcerat let's
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  Speaker 1: really invest in the communities, and let's deal with the
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  Speaker 1: real issues.
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  Speaker 3: Watching people vote for you in the election is today
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  Speaker 3: today the Voteay, they go vote for you.
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  Speaker 1: It's a democratic primary. As Democrats, we have all been
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  Speaker 1: talking about how we want to reform the criminal justice system.
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  Speaker 1: My opponent has been in the system for thirty five years,
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  Speaker 1: either as a judge, or as an Ada. So if
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  Speaker 1: you're trying to re imagine a justice system, you don't
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  Speaker 1: put somebody at the helm that's been a cog in
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  Speaker 1: the wheel of injustice. You put somebody that's going to
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  Speaker 1: bring a fresh perspective, where as a unique background. I've
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  Speaker 1: been a civil rights attorney on the front lines for
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  Speaker 1: the last decade. All of my work has been rooted
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  Speaker 1: in justice, not just justice for some, justice for all.
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  Speaker 1: So you take that and you pair it with a
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  Speaker 1: business background. I have my MBA graduated second in my class,
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  Speaker 1: and for them, now you have somebody that has the
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  Speaker 1: administrative skills as well as the educational background. It's a
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  Speaker 1: dual threat. And that's what the people of Westchester need.
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  Speaker 1: The people need somebody that's lived the experience that the
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  Speaker 1: defendants that are going to come before that office have experienced.
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  Speaker 2: Now, people would ask, you know, how are you on crime?
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  Speaker 2: You know, crime is up in all areas in New
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  Speaker 2: York City, in New York and surrounding cities.
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  Speaker 3: Well, actually they would say, it's down.
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  Speaker 2: It's not up.
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  Speaker 3: Actually, well, statistics say is down.
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  Speaker 1: Correct. I think that's Republican rhetoric that leads people to
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  Speaker 1: believe that crime is up.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's what we see too. I think we
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  Speaker 2: see a lot of crime outside industries. I think we
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  Speaker 2: see it on public transportation. I think we see it
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  Speaker 2: out there. So how would you be on crime?
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  Speaker 1: We're going to be fair. I think the problem with
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  Speaker 1: the justice system has been that most prosecutors are looking
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  Speaker 1: at their conviction rate. They're looking at trying to give
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  Speaker 1: this veneer that they're a tough woman or a tough guy.
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  Speaker 1: We're not going to incarcerate our way into a safer society.
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  Speaker 1: The evidence is clear if you look at what vera
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  Speaker 1: institute has done, if you look at what John Jay
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  Speaker 1: has done. There's been millions, if not billions of dollars
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  Speaker 1: spent investing the issue of criminality, and all of the
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  Speaker 1: PhDs the social scientists have uniformly said the reduction in
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  Speaker 1: crime and reduction in the rates of recidivism comes from
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  Speaker 1: investments in the communities where crime is high, educational opportunities,
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  Speaker 1: giving people workforce development, people that need treatment. Most of
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  Speaker 1: the people that are incarcerated right now have some form
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  Speaker 1: of diagnosable mental health issue. Help them give them the
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  Speaker 1: treatment that they need. Politicians need to stop telling people
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  Speaker 1: these lives that they're going to fix it in one term.
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  Speaker 1: These are generational issues. It's going to take a generation
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  Speaker 1: to fix them. But if you have somebody that's going
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  Speaker 1: to put forth a plan and have measurable metrics that
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  Speaker 1: you can say, is this person actually doing the work,
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  Speaker 1: Let's actually fix the issues instead of putting a band
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  Speaker 1: aid on it doing these low hanging fruit programs where
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  Speaker 1: we're telling the public, oh, we have this new, great program.
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  Speaker 1: You know that you didn't solve these individuals issues, and
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  Speaker 1: you know that they're going to be back in the system.
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  Speaker 1: It's not even fiscally sensible the amount of money that
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  Speaker 1: you spend to incarcerate someone. For each person that you incarcerate,
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  Speaker 1: if instead of paying for years of putting them in jail,
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  Speaker 1: you would have paid for them to be educated and
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  Speaker 1: make sure that they had the resources. This is someone
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  Speaker 1: that would have almost inevitably been a fully functioning adult,
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  Speaker 1: a taxpayer, contributing to the tax base, so it would
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  Speaker 1: have been an investment instead of them being a drain
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  Speaker 1: on all of the social services.
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  Speaker 3: What do you say to people that say you don't
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  Speaker 3: deserve their vote because you don't have experience as a
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  Speaker 3: prosecutor and you have a criminal record.
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  Speaker 1: I would say that those are the two things that
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  Speaker 1: they should be most excited about. So first of all,
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  Speaker 1: I started, let's just look at what I've had to
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  Speaker 1: overcome to get to this point. I started law school
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  Speaker 1: twenty years ago on federal house arrests. I walk into
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  Speaker 1: my evidence class my second year and recognized that the
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  Speaker 1: judge that sentenced me was my evidence professor. She then
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  Speaker 1: goes on to write me letters of recommendation for my
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  Speaker 1: admissions to the bar in New York and New Jersey.
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  Speaker 1: Wasn't certain if there was going to be a delay
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  Speaker 1: of denial in my admission to the bar, enroll in
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  Speaker 1: business school to secure Plan B, graduate second in my class.
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  Speaker 1: So all of the things that I've had to overcome
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  Speaker 1: to get to this point, to me, is exactly what
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  Speaker 1: you want in your leader. You want somebody that has
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  Speaker 1: proven they can overcome obstacles and solve intractable problem. The
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  Speaker 1: statistical probability of me being an attorney with my background
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  Speaker 1: is less than three percent. The statistical probability of me
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  Speaker 1: being an attorney who graduated at the top of his
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  Speaker 1: business class is less than one percent. The statistical probability
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  Speaker 1: of me being a viable candidate to be the first
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  Speaker 1: black DA and one of the wealthiest counties in the
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  Speaker 1: United States. I would say it's damn near impossible. But
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  Speaker 1: if a person can put themselves in that position, why
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  Speaker 1: would you bet against them? The prosecutor role is something
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  Speaker 1: that you do if you're an ada to be the
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  Speaker 1: district attorney, you're a policymaker and you're an administrator. Policymaking
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  Speaker 1: doesn't require you to go to court every day. I've
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  Speaker 1: done criminal defense work, so I know the criminal law,
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  Speaker 1: and honestly, my record against the Westchester District Attorney's office
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  Speaker 1: is very good, so they should probably be taking some
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  Speaker 1: tips from me, and they'd learned a lot from me
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  Speaker 1: when I get to the position that I hope that
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  Speaker 1: I will get if the people put me there. So
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  Speaker 1: I think that people need to just reshift what their
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  Speaker 1: expectation is of what a district attorney is. They think
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  Speaker 1: that it is somebody that's been a career prosecutor. Then
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  Speaker 1: they've decided, Okay, now I want to run the place.
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  Speaker 1: And that's the reason why the system has not changed.
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  Speaker 1: You keep having people that have been a part of
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  Speaker 1: the system for their entire career and expect that they're
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  Speaker 1: going to push back against law enforcement, that they're going
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  Speaker 1: to push back against their colleagues. It's not realistic. It's
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  Speaker 1: going to take an outside if we're going to ever
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  Speaker 1: get the reimagined justice system that we all deserve.
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  Speaker 2: Now, if you're just joining us, we're talking to William Wagstaff.
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  Speaker 2: He's running for the first he's going to be the
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  Speaker 2: first black district attorney in Westchester County. Today is the
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  Speaker 2: day you have to get out there and vote. So
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  Speaker 2: get out there and vote. Just your a question.
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  Speaker 1: What was the first thing you would do if you
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  Speaker 1: get an office? Listen? I like that because I think
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  Speaker 1: that people make assumptions that they know everything that's going
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  Speaker 1: on on the other side, and you have career prosecutors, investigators,
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  Speaker 1: and people that have been in that office that are
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  Speaker 1: doing good work. So before you go in and start
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  Speaker 1: saying I'm flipping the table over there's a new sheriff
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  Speaker 1: in town, that to me is how you lose people.
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  Speaker 1: You should be on day one sitting down with everybody
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  Speaker 1: in that office and going through the entire roller decks
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  Speaker 1: of people that work there that provide services for that office,
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  Speaker 1: and better understand and diagnose the issues before assuming that
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  Speaker 1: information that you have outside as an outside, as just
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  Speaker 1: a perspective, is going to be what's the best thing
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  Speaker 1: to do. I think it's arrogant and people make that mistake.
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  Speaker 1: They come in and they poke their chest out. People
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  Speaker 1: don't want to listen to somebody that's not listening to them,
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  Speaker 1: and I think that's a flow A lot of leaders may.
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  Speaker 2: How do you repair a lot of the police in
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  Speaker 2: the community problems that's been had in Westchester for a
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  Speaker 2: long time. How do we start repairing those problems?
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  Speaker 1: I think there's a couple of things. First, we need
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  Speaker 1: to diversify the District Attorney's office. The office doesn't currently
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  Speaker 1: reflect the community that it serves. That's one. Two. You
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  Speaker 1: need to be in the community. You can't say that
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  Speaker 1: you want to serve a community, but you are absent
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  Speaker 1: from the community and the only time that they see
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  Speaker 1: you is once a year on National Night Out. That's
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  Speaker 1: not gonna work at the end of the day. Even
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  Speaker 1: if you can't reform a municipal police department because the
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  Speaker 1: DA's office doesn't specifically have that authority, what you can
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  Speaker 1: do is have a relationship with the community where they
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  Speaker 1: know even if this detective that's always given us a
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  Speaker 1: problem presses up on us. I have confidence that that case,
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  Speaker 1: if it's not a valid case, is not going to
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  Speaker 1: be prosecuted, and they're gonna be honest and say this
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  Speaker 1: office is a liar. This officer doesn't have a good search,
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  Speaker 1: they didn't have probable cause. So we're not gonna squeeze
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  Speaker 1: a plete deal out of you when we know we
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  Speaker 1: can't meet our burden. Let's be real here. Most of
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  Speaker 1: the deals are just people operating out of fear. They're
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  Speaker 1: operating out of fear, ignorance, poor representation, and somebody that's
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  Speaker 1: looking at the defendant's just another client, another paycheck, or
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  Speaker 1: another opportunity to clear someone off their calendar, instead of
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  Speaker 1: realizing that before they are a defendant, they're a human being.
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  Speaker 1: And that's what we need to get back to. We
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  Speaker 1: need to reimagine the language of humanity.
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  Speaker 3: Or the election is today, William wax Daff he's running
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  Speaker 3: to be the first black DA in Westchester County.
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  Speaker 1: Give him the final pitch. Well, this primary today is
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  Speaker 1: about contrast in choice. You have somebody that's been there,
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  Speaker 1: a cognit and the wiel of injustice for thirty five
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  Speaker 1: years and if you want more of the same, where
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  Speaker 1: there's no police accountability, where people are not being treated
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  Speaker 1: equitably regardless of their zip code, regardless of their race,
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  Speaker 1: their religion, or their wealth, then I would encourage you
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  Speaker 1: to vote for my opponent. But if you want a
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  Speaker 1: reimagined justice system, and you have a candidate in me
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  Speaker 1: who's shown you from their work, not just their words,
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  Speaker 1: that they are on the front lines of justice and
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  Speaker 1: that they have the courage that it's going to take
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  Speaker 1: to push back. When I was representing Black Lives Matter,
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  Speaker 1: that wasn't a walk in the park. When I was
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  Speaker 1: representing the family of people who have been killed by
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  Speaker 1: the police and they were threatening me and my family,
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  Speaker 1: that wasn't a walk in the park. But I never buckled.
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  Speaker 1: And it's going to take that type of courage to
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  Speaker 1: implement all of the reforms that are necessary to get
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  Speaker 1: us the justice system we deserve. So if you believe
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  Speaker 1: like I believe, that justice should be for everyone, then
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  Speaker 1: William Wagstaff is the logical vote and the only choice today.
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  Speaker 1: Come out and vote Primary day, June twenty fifth. Let's
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  Speaker 1: make history. I need your vote. Let's not wake up tomorrow.
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  Speaker 1: On June twenty six and say he missed it by
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  Speaker 1: twelve votes. He missed it by fifteen votes. Whatever it
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  Speaker 1: is that you have going on, there is somebody, probably
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  Speaker 1: one degree, if not two degrees of separation from you,
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  Speaker 1: that has been railroaded by the justice system. There is
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  Speaker 1: a small window to change. Today is the day. Get
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  Speaker 1: out now, whatever you're doing, figure out how you're going
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  Speaker 1: to get to your poll and vote for William Wagstaff.
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  Speaker 1: It's a vote for change.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you have it, well, good luck today. William Wagstaff,
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  Speaker 2: ladies and gentlemen is running to be the first black
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  Speaker 2: district Attorney in Chester County. So get out there and vote,
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  Speaker 2: and good luck.
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  Speaker 1: Brother, Thank you brother, I appreciate it.
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  Speaker 2: It's the Breakfast Club on Power one on five one
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: Homer Angie Martinez, where we use next wake.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: That ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club