MEET THE CANDIDATES: ELECTION DAY NOVEMBER 2ND

Suffolk County District Attorney

Tim Sini (D)
incumbent

Tim Sini previously served as the Suffolk County police commissioner prior to being elected as SC district attorney in 2017. Following a scandal that ended in the federal prosecution of the former chief of department, Sini was appointed to this position in January of 2016. Previously, he served as Suffolk’s deputy county executive for public safety. 
Sini grew up in West Islip and now lives in Babylon with his wife, Amanda, and three children. Suffolk County, he said, has always been his home and law enforcement has always been his passion.
After receiving a degree in political science and law enforcement, he went on to law school at Harvard and quickly became a prosecutor. Sini worked as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, where he specialized in large-scale gang and narcotics cases. He also led the first-ever federal prosecution dealing with the designer drug, bath salts. In 2014, he left the U.S. Attorney’s Office for a job as the deputy county executive for public safety. In 2015, he was appointed the Suffolk County police commissioner.
As district attorney, he said, he came into office and did a complete overhaul investing in training programs and revamping the office to become digitized. He also noted an increase in diversity.
He said he is also proud of the implementation of the Conviction Integrity Bureau, which helps free wrongfully incarcerated persons, and demolishing MS-13, culminating in 2018 with the largest-ever takedown of MS-13 gang members. The takedown, he said, was part of a two-year investigation with wiretapping and ending with the indictment of over 96 members, locally. The investigation, he added, also prevented a total of 10 murders.
Sini has also implemented a diversion program for those suffering from addiction by helping them find treatment as well as the prosecution of drug dealers that have caused overdoses. Since his time as DA, he said, he has helped get six drug dealers on manslaughter charges.
Human trafficking was also addressed during his time with the creation of a new unit that, he said, treats the perpetrator as the criminal rather than the victim. Instead, he said, the victims are aided with programs to help them break the cycle of abuse.
Lastly, he said, he is also proud of his success in creating the largest illegal dumping case, prosecuting 30 individuals and 10 corporations. He also promised to continue to fight corruption in government.
“No one is above the law,” he said. “I am running for a second term on a record of reforming our office and decreasing crime each and every year.”

Ray Tierney (R)

Ray Tierney is a prosecutor who has dedicated his career to fighting for victims and protecting citizens. As a prosecutor, he has tackled some of what he calls the toughest cases in Suffolk County.

He has prosecuted MS-13 and Colombian drug cartel cases, white-collar crime cases, public corruption cases, and MS-13 racketeering cases. He has advised the Attorney General, Department of Justice officials, and the President of the United States on long-term international criminal and MS-13 prosecutions, both nationwide and in New York.

His decision to run for office came from his distaste for local government and believing he could get the job done.

“I am not going to talk about it, I am going to do something about it,” he said, referencing the bail reform bill among other issues. “I have the experience. It’s the difference between the prosecutor and the politician.”

If elected, he said he will reconfigure the DA’s office to stop overloaded press conferences and to get back into the court rooms.