6 November 2021: What's Behind the Conflict Between Albany County's Sheriff and Prosecutor?

Churchill: Apple at the eye of Cuomo storm

Albany Times-Union columnist Chris Churchill spoke with Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple on the conflict that has developed between him and County Prosecutor David Soares. His column starts with how Andrew M. Cuomo's legal and PR team is attempting to paint the situation:

A spokesman for Andrew Cuomo labeled him a "cowboy sheriff." George Stephanopoulos said he was a "lone ranger." Others are calling Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple much worse.

I suggested to Apple that "The Cowboy Sheriff," at least, is kind of a cool nickname — somebody buy him a white hat — but you'll understand if he's not in the mood for jokes, not when his integrity, decency and competence are being attacked on a national stage.

The reason for the onslaught, of course, is the criminal complaint filed against Cuomo accusing the former governor of misdemeanor forcible touching for the alleged groping of Brittany Commisso at the Executive Mansion. The complaint, apparently filed prematurely, was quickly engulfed in a swirl of confusion and controversy.

Things got more complicated — and potentially worse for Apple — on Thursday, when Albany County District Attorney David Soares filed a letter in City Court calling the criminal complaint "potentially defective" and alleging it was submitted "unilaterally and inexplicably." Soares even suggested, as he asked for a 60-day arraignment adjournment, that Apple had excluded potentially exculpatory evidence.

That's how the column begins, where Churchill proceeds to provide a small profile of Sheriff Apple while pointing the bizarre logic behind several of the remnant Team Cuomo's claims. Please do click through the link above for the full column for that information.

For our part, we'll pick up the information presented near the end of the column, which focuses on Churchill's discussion with Apple on the situation involving Soares:

That's why it's unfortunate the back-and-forth between Apple and Soares is also creating confusion. The district attorney's letter even said Apple's complaint was rendered defective because it failed to include a sworn statement from Commisso. The DA might as well have called the sheriff incompetent. What's going on?

In response, Apple told my colleague Brendan Lyons that he had followed necessary procedures and that his office did everything it was supposed to. That echoed some of what Apple told me when we spoke Thursday, ahead of the Soares filing.

"I feel like we're handing him a very good case," Apple said, referring to the district attorney. And Commisso, the sheriff said, "is 100 percent cooperative. She is very concerned about seeking justice."

But justice might be threatened by whatever is happening between Apple and Soares.

We did some of our own digging into several published reports and found this 10 August 2021 commentary by J.J. O'Hara regarding Soares' 16-year tenure as a prosecuting attorney in Albany, New York:

When I first read that Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares was planning to investigate whether New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo sexually assaulted and/or harassed one or more women, I immediately tried to remember what other politicians Soares has investigated and/or prosecuted during his 16+ year tenure.

O'Hara then runs through the names of six prominent figures in New York state capital politics, each of whom was convicted of crimes, and none of whom were either investigated and/or prosecuted by Soares. For reference, the names include Shelly Silver, Joe Bruno, Alan Hevesi, Eliot Spitzer, Dean Skelos, and John Sampson.

We should note O'Hara has a personal interest in reviewing Soares' career as a prosecutor, which involves what has become a nationally-followed criminal case involving a cult leader, which he addresses in his commentary:

Almost from the day he was elected as Albany County D.A., Soares not only failed to undertake any investigation of Keith Raniere and his NXIVM/ESP criminal enterprise, he actually became an active advocate for – and protector of – both.

Perhaps it was the fact that his two sisters and a brother-in-law were enrolled members of NXIVM/ESP that caused Soares to turn a blind guy to the group and its numerous criminal activities.

In any event, in 2007 Soares became an active advocate for NXIVM/ESP and Raniere by bringing a baseless charge of grand larceny against me. He did this at the request of Clare Bronfman – with whom he met personally to plot my demise.

Upon learning that I had only been charged with one crime, Raniere immediately started pressuring Soares to bring more charges against me. This eventually resulted in a phone call from Sen. Joe Bruno to Soares in which Bruno, acting at the urging of Nancy Salzman (who, at that time, was serving as Brono’s personal coach and therapist) pressured Soares to bring several more charges against me (Query: Why didn’t Soares report this totally inappropriate interference to the feds?).

But Soares – who was apparently expecting some sort of political contribution from Clare Bronfman for the original indictment – refused to make another presentation about me to the Albany County Grand Jury and the one-count indictment was immediately dismissed at the first hearing as the judge chided Soares for bringing an indictment based on insufficient evidence.

Here's how O'Hara summarizes Soares' role as Albany County's prosecutor:

From the time he was first elected, Soares has operated the Office of the Albany County D.A. as a transactional enterprise.

Although they opposed him when he first ran for office, the leaders of the Albany County Democratic Party quickly learned that Soares was a guy with whom they could do business.

O'Hara's commentary goes on to describe Soares as an apparatchik for the Democratic party establishment in Albany.

We think this background information may go a long way to explaining why there's a split between Soares and Apple in the filing for Andrew M Cuomo's forcible touching criminal misdemeanor case. If the county sheriff's office had confidence that Soares' prosecutor's office would effectively prosecute the case, we think it unlikely they would have filed charges without coordination with the prosecutor's office. Filing the charges as they did is a way to prevent Soares from letting the case slide.

That takes us back to the beginning of Churchill's column, which starts with how Cuomo's legal and PR team are attempting to taint Apple as some kind of "rogue" element. As the insiders of a corrupt political machine, that is how they see anyone who doesn't fully back their interests the way O'Hara describes Soares as having done in his 16 year tenure.

Given his history, in whose interest is Soares really working?