A former Binghamton Mayor from 2006 to 2013, Matt Ryan ‘82 is the Democratic and Working Families candidate for Broome County District Attorney. He worked as a public defender for 15 years, a pro bono attorney for 10 years and as a youth counselor for nine years. Ryan, who earned his law degree at CUNY School of Law, has also taught environmental law at Binghamton University as an adjunct lecturer. Questionnaire responses have been edited for clarity.
1. What motivated you to run?
For me, running for office is not about prestige or money. I’m running because a prosecutor’s office can do so much more than just prosecute crime to make our community safer. I was inspired to run by young racial justice advocates nationally and locally, and the success of progressive prosecutors around the country at reducing mass incarceration, rolling back the punitive war on drugs and making their communities safer. Thanks to the efforts of committed activists, we know that safer communities are more just communities. Those goals are not separate. Decades of failed so-called “tough on crime” policies have not made us any safer. I know there is a better way. I have the experience to provide the leadership to put those ideals into practice.
I’ve seen firsthand how our criminal justice system perpetuates crime, rather than adequately addresses the criminogenic conditions. As district attorney, I’ll invest in building the infrastructure and partnerships to prevent crime in the first place, such as hiring a grant writer and a community liaison. A grant writer will garner funds to bring proven programs to our community that will reduce crime, end the cycle of incarceration and support crime victims.
2. How does your background and previous experience make you a strong candidate for this position?
I’ve dedicated my life to improving my upstate New York community through dedicated service, leadership and the fair application of the law. I am a lifelong resident of Broome County and a graduate of [BU] and CUNY Law School. Before law school, I worked for the [New York State] Division for Youth for nine years. In 1991, I joined the Broome County Public Defender’s Office where I was known as a zealous and effective advocate for my clients during my 15 years on the job. I never lost a misdemeanor trial, and I won 27 out of 29 felony trials. In 2005, I ran for Mayor of the City of Binghamton and was elected two times, before being term limited out. Since 2014, I have done pro bono work for underrepresented clients.
Unlike my opponent, I have extensive experience overseeing large budgets, managing personnel and working with community organizations to achieve common goals. I worked hand in glove with activists to prevent fracking in New York state and demonstrate our community’s opposition to the Iraq War. I strongly supported the Youth Bureau and youth mentorship programs, two very successful programs which were unfortunately ended by my successor. I was proud to have brought Binghamton through the worst recession in 80 years. By the time I left, Binghamton was in excellent fiscal health. Since I left office, I’ve been doing pro bono legal work supporting underrepresented clients, including a number of local social justice advocates arrested during peaceful protests.
3. What do you believe are the biggest issues facing your constituents, and how do you plan to address them?
There are several issues the next District Attorney will face. I’ll list them and then propose some solutions in the next few answers. Those are the overdose epidemic, violent crime, lack of leadership and vision to move our criminal justice system forward and the outflow of staff and attorneys in the District Attorney’s office.
The thing that frightens people the most is violent crime. There is no question violent crime inflicts terrible costs and we need to take it seriously, but it’s a small part of crime overall and it’s concentrated. That is to say — we can solve this problem in Broome County.
Our country went from 200,000 people in prisons and jails in the 1980s to over two million today. Millions of kids growing up without parents or visiting them through bars. And yet no one feels any safer. What does that tell you about the tough-on-crime approaches?
I know from firsthand experience that when we had gang prevention and the Youth Bureau violent crime was lower. As District Attorney, I will focus on building pipelines to success rather than to prison. To do this, we need to prevent crime before it happens — prosecution is always after-the-fact. I will focus on supporting services that integrate people into our community and economy better through leveraging the ability of the District Attorney’s Office to get grants, seeking out resources from organizations around the country, and work in common with community groups and the businesses to build and improve mentorship programs.
We also need to make sure victims are kept safe. Victims are often scared to speak to police or the District Attorney’s Office because of lack of trust, concerns of retribution or their personal relationship with the offender. We cannot solve every problem in a victim’s life, but they deserve to be safe, be heard and have access to counseling. There’s a program that deploys trained people directly to hospitals when there’s a gunshot victim who can immediately begin to assess their needs and guide them. That’d be a big step forward in Broome.
We have to realize that most people who end up within the criminal justice system are poor and if they do get locked up they will almost certainly end up back in our community. It is in our best interest to ensure we have excellent programming with demonstrable positive outcomes. Probation is overworked with large caseloads. So we need to invest in pretrial release programs focused on education, job readiness, housing and mental health services.
Lastly, we have too many talented Assistant District Attorneys (ADA) leaving the office thanks to the years of negative campaigning by my opponent. He’s consistently lied about the current DA’s record and impugned the office. That is not leadership. Now, they are operating with too few ADAs. Rebuilding morale and re-staffing the office is something we’ll need immediately after the election, if I win.
4. Many students and community members are concerned about increasing prices, including housing and household essentials. How do you plan to address these concerns?
Inflation, housing, and poverty are not traditional concerns of a DA. There are no direct steps I can take if elected to reduce the cost of essentials, in fact very few people — if any — officials have such power.
That does not mean these should not concern the District Attorney’s office however. The District Attorney is one of these most important elected positions in the county. That office has a lot of resources and the ability to tap hundreds of millions in grants from governmental and non-governmental sources. As I said before, almost everyone who gets incarcerated in Broome County — like everywhere else — is poor. Many people suffer from housing and food insecurity and lack access to appropriate health care. To effectively make a strong, resilient community we must address these issues. I will be a strong voice to ensure safe housing for everyone in our community. I will make sure the District Attorney’s office is represented in all meetings on these issues to see how our office can provide support.
5. Why should students and young people vote for you?
I feel passionately that our community must do everything it can to support young people — ones who grow up here and those that come here for higher education. The University is a very important part of our community. I, myself, am a graduate of [BU] and a former adjunct professor. I taught environmental law for many years. It is one of the most powerful economic engines in Broome County and a huge resource.
If I am elected, we’ll need the talents and energies of everyone to take on the difficult challenges our community faces — [University] students and professors included. I can see BU students having internships in our office, doing outreach, performing research and working in community organizations designed to reduce and prevent crime.